EDGE (Economic Development, Governance, and Enterprise Growth)

Private sector development is a key part of EDGE activities. Efforts seek to support governments and the private sector to improve the policies, laws, and regulations necessary to foster a climate for competitiveness, investment, and trade through public-private dialogue.  

Part of EDGE’s mission is to improve the business enabling environment, as seen in the Armenia Business Enabling Environment Activity. The goals of this activity include improving the enabling environment for trade, investing and deepening competition in a way that will promote inclusive and sustainable economic recovery and growth, and supporting private sector development. 

The prospect of eventual EU membership (or at least greater economic integration with the EU) is a key driver of the reform process for all EDGE countries. Closer integration with the EU offers the EDGE economies increased stability, increased opportunity, the prospect of realizing more inclusive economic growth with widespread job creation and inhibited malign behavior by unfriendly state actors.

EDGE designed a number of activities to raise the business sophistication and capacity of high potential firms in these value chains by improving their competitiveness; making their marketing more effective; and increasing their ability to comply with international standard. EDGE also developed activities aimed at improving market integration and expanding market linkage through building the capacity of companies to ensure quality and access to the export market.

EDGE supports the digital transformation of SMEs into three selected sectors, fruit and vegetable productions, incoming rural and adventure tourism, and textiles/apparel and wood processing/furniture production.

EDGE has developed an initiative for a workshop to help processors to digitalize their operations. Participants include processing firms and brings them together with ICT companies. Given the current circumstances, this workshop is organized online.

EDGE launched a Workforce Assessment in the Western Balkans in close collaboration with the USAID North Macedonia Partnership for Better Business Regulation (PBBR). The Western Balkan Sector Experts started working on the assessment and completed desk research including a review of available literature and other background documents. Following the completion of the report, EDGE designs and carry out activities for BSPs, SMEs, and policymakers, as appropriate, to help address workforce constraints.

EDGE initiated an assessment of the current state of compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) by the twelve EDGE countries. (Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Ukraine are WTO members; Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus are in the accession process; and Kosovo is not a WTO member.)

EDGE representatives participated in events and meetings organized by regional organizations and donors working on and supporting the regional trade facilitation efforts.

EDGE supports intra-regional and Euro-Atlantic integration. In the Balkans, this presents itself as support for convergence with EU accession criteria. In Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia this means support in approximating the EU Association Agreement, and in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus support the EU Eastern Partnership.