| WYG International has had a long association with South Eastern Europe but our programme of work there was in part disrupted by the advent of war and the break-up of Yugoslavia. As things have normalised we have built relationships with the new republics and our ‘Balkans’ business unit covers the entire region - except for Romania, which is managed separately and Slovenia, which is under our EU programme. Because individual countries are small, with no natural centre among them, we have not yet established subsidiary companies. However we have a network of country offices with local management taking our business forward. Our work reflects the diversity across the region, from Croatia and Bulgaria, which anticipate EU accession at the next stage of enlargement, to Kosovo, which remains under an interim UN administration.
Private sector development has been prominent, to help build business support services, restructure companies and seek inward foreign investment. A current theme of several countries is modernising public employment services as a major plank to reducing unemployment.
For parts of the region, peace remains fragile and the rebuilding of the economy and prosperity is needed to underpin stability. Our work aims to make a contribution to this crucial objective, as exemplified by our work in Croatia, where we are assisting the rebuilding of the economy of areas most devastated by past conflict. |
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