This four-year programme is one of the largest and first of a new wave of EU-funded projects in Turkey. The main outputs required by the programme are as follows:

• Three independent and self-sustaining EU-Turkey Business Centres, owned and managed within their regions;
• Each centre providing comprehensive business support to SMEs and support for internationalisation;
• Generating policy guidelines prepared for the Turkish authorities, in partnership with Turkish organisations.

The three regions chosen for Business Centres all have growth potential - Gazientep in the east of Turkey, Izmir on the southern coast and Kocaeli, an industrial centre close to Istanbul. Lead partners in each area are forming consortia, which are being transformed into legal structures capable of managing the project into the longer-term.

The projects were launched in April 2002 and in the subsequent 6 months local directors and staff were appointed and trained. The centres were launched around the beginning of 2003, when they started to provide a wide range of business support services. By the end of the project over 500 man-months of international experts and over 800 man-months of local expertise will have been disbursed. Support has been given to start-up and developing businesses and a range of sector programmes have been started; training resource centres have been established and comprehensive and innovative exporting initiatives have been launched. Altogether, over 5,000 SMEs and start-ups have received services in the first 2,5 years of operation and more than 6,000 individuals have received training. The centres have already started along the road to sustainability with income from fees contributing a significant proportion of costs.

A wide range of training packages, consulting manuals and strategy/policy papers have been developed in Turkish for the use of business counsellors and SMEs. The services that are provided include advice to companies on the harmonisation of their products and services to EU regulations