Conference Programme

Welcoming by Mr. Markku Markkula, First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions

Opening Words by Prof. Dr. h. c. Mario Ohoven – President of European Entrepre-neurs CEA-PME and of Bundesverband Mittelständische Wirtschaft e.V. (BVMW/D)

Keynote: Mr. Youssouf Moussa Dawaleh, President of the Pan-African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI)

Mr. Koen Doens, Deputy Director-General of DG DEVCO

Mr. Kebour Ghenna Desta, Executive Director of the Pan-African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI)

Dr. Diomandé Moussa, Vice-President of the SME Federation of Ivory Coast FIPME

Prof. Dr. Maurizio Casasco, President of CONFAPI (I) and Vice-President of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME

Mrs. Meike van Ginneken, CEO of SNV Netherlands Development

Mr. Sergio Arzeni, President of INSME the International Network for SMEs, former Director OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development

Mr. Daniel David, CEO FUNDASO – Fundaçao Soico (Grupo SOICO, Moçambique)

Moderator: Ms. Bienvenue Angui, Co-Head of BVMW Foreign Trade Office, Coordinator “Le Mittelstand” and Managing Director German-African SME Alliance by BVMW

The European-African SME Alliance: Signature of the Memorandum of Understanding between European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME, PACCI, FIPME, BVMW, CONFAPI, AFDEE, ESBA, EVBB and YES for Europe, introduced by:

Mr. Patrick Meinhardt, Second Secretary General of the German-African Mittelstand Alliance, Board Member of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME and Director Public Policy, European Affairs and Foreign Trade of BVMW e.V. (D)

Mr. Patrick Gibbels, Secretary General of ESBA

Mr. Horst Dreimann, Secretary General of the European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training (EVBB) in Brussels

Mr. Ben Knoefler, President of YES for Europe, Co-chair Young Mittelstand-BVMW

Mrs. Carla Montesi, Director DG DEVCO, Directorate C – Planet and Prosperity

Mrs. Sévérine Varet, Vice-President of AFDEE (F), owner of Atout Export

Mrs. Cécile Kashetu Kyenge, MEP PD (I)/S&D, Vice-Chair Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Member of DEV & LIBE Committees and the EP-Delegation for the relations with the Pan-African Parliament

Dr. Stephan Gehrold, MEP CDU (D)/EPP, Member of DEV, ECON & TRAN Committees, the EP-Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, and the Delegation for relations with the Pan-African Parliament

Mr. Thomas Rolf, Private Sector Cooperation – Economic and Social Development, GIZ German Society for International Cooperation

Mr. Eelco Baan, Global Value Chain Coordinator at SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Moderator: Prof. Dr. Horst Fischer (Univ. Leiden & Univ. Columbia)

Mr. Stefan Moritz, Managing Director of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME