(ANSA) - BRUXELLES, 20 DIC - SMEs and entrepreneurs from Kosovo joined the EU Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Programme (COSME) today. They will now get new chances for increasing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, under the same conditions as other European enterprises. "Today's agreement is a milestone for SMEs and entrepreneurs in Kosovo. It opens doors for cooperation with businesses across the EU and will help create a better business environment," EU Commissioner for Industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska, said.

The European programme will support projects on a wide range of topics that include clusters, SME internationalisation, building entrepreneurship skills, tourism, reducing the administrative burden for companies and protection of intellectual property rights. It will also help SMEs identify funding sources. Kosovo is the eleventh partner outside the EU to join the programme, after Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, the Republic of Moldova, Turkey, Albania, Serbia, Armenia and Ukraine.