Thursday, September 26, 2002 Conference on Financing Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) in Central and Eastern Europe Budapest, Hungary On September 26, 2002, Bancraft Kft. organized a Conference on Financing SMEs in Central and Eastern Europe. The PFS Program contributed to this event by covering the costs of two speakers: Ewa Balcerowicz, Vice President, CASE Foundation, Poland; and Philip Bylund, Director of International Strategy and Special Initiatives, Community Development Venture Capital Alliance, New York, USA. Ms. Balcerowicz spoke on SME development policy in Poland and reported on the results of a recent survey of Polish SMEs. Mr. Bylund spoke about SME finance in the US, the role of the Federal and state governments, community funds and business angels. The objectives of the conference were to identify opportunities for financing SMEs in Central Eastern Europe and find solutions for the issues of poor capitalization and financing, building on the experiences of the European Union and the United States. To download the agenda and presentations, please visit the website of Bancraft Kft.