Board of Directors meeting 

– for AECM members of the Board only
registration and documents via member area of AECM’s website

Interpretation: EN, FR, DE

Meeting of the General Assembly

– for AECM members only
documents via member area of AECM’s website

Interpretation: EN, FR, DE

Public session of the General Assembly “Building a more competitive and sustainable Europe”

Interpretation: EN, FR, DE 

Presented by the Master of Ceremony, Kama Kępczyńska

Welcome & Opening

• Guy Selbherr, President of AECM

Keynote speech

• Jörg Dittrich, President of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) (TBC)

Breakout Session: 2 to 3 introductory statements followed by a discussion

No interpretation available; session in English

Topic 1: “EU funding opportunities: supporting the growth of SMEs”

• Astrid Bartels, Head of Unit, Access to Finance, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), European Commission (TBC)
• Jonathan Denness, Head of Unit, Financial Instruments and International Financial Institutions Relations, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), European Commission (TBC)
• Andrea Bomhoff, Head of Unit, State aid: case support and policy – Policy and Strategy (COMP.A.3), Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP), European Commission

Topic 2: “How to enable affordable and sustainable housing”

• NN, British Business Bank (BBB), UK  (TBD)
• Christa Karis, Deputy Director, Corporate Relations, European Investment Fund (EIF)

Topic 3: “Providing solutions to address natural disasters”

• Pietro Calice, Senior Financial Economist, The World Bank 
• Zenón Vázquez Irizar, CESGAR / Sociedades de Garantía Recíproca, Spain

Topic 4: “Best ways to support agriculture and to foster rural development”

• Gijs Schilthuis, Director, Sustainability, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI), European Commission
• Kirsten Müller, Group Manager of standard financing, Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, Germany (TBC)
• László Tóth, Chairman of the AECM working group agriculture and Deputy CEO, Rural Credit Guarantee Foundation (AVHGA), Hungary

Keynote speech:

• NN (TBD following elections in Germany on 23/02/2025)

• István Attila Szabó, CEO & Chairman of the Board of Directors, Garantiqa Hitelgarancia Zrt., Hungary on the “Latest developments at Garantiqa: implementation of the InvestEU product”

Highlights from the Breakout Session

Fireside chat:

• Mateusz Olszak, Director of the Guarantees and Sureties Department, Director of the Entrepreneurship Development Program, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), Poland
• Giorgio Chiarion Casoni, Director, InvestEU and financial institutions, Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission

Concluding remarks:

• Tomáš Nidetzký, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Národní rozvojové banky (NRB), Czechia, Vice President of AECM

and end of the public session

Annual seminar on “Future readiness of SMEs: what needs to be done”

Interpretation: EN, FR, DE

Presented by the Master of Ceremony, Kama Kępczyńska

Welcome & Opening:

• Guy Selbherr, President of AECM

• NN, Japan Finance Corporation (JFC), Japan (TBD)

• NN, Japan Finance Corporation (JFC), Japan (TBD)

Keynote Speech / Video Message:

• NN (TBD following elections in Germany on 23/02/2025)
  

Keynote Speeches:

• Claus Ruhe-Madsen, Minister for Economics, Transport, Labour, Technology and Tourism, State government, Schleswig-Holstein
• Debora Revoltella, Director of the Economics Department and Chief Economist, European Investment Bank (EIB)
  

Topic: “How to unlock a more social economy”

• Keynote Speech: Andriana Sukova, Deputy Director-General, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion (DG EMPL), European Commission

Panel 1

• Moderator: Member of AECM
• Milena Angelova, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and SME Envoy of Bulgaria

• Yesil Rusconi, Head of International Relations, France Active, France

• Harald Schmitz, CEO, SozialBank
• NN, Entrepreneur (TBD)

• Ismini Papakirillou, Chief Executive Officer, Hellenic Development Bank (HDB), Greece on the “Innovative financial instruments with social dimension”

Topic: “Addressing the challenges of demographic change”

• Keynote Speech: Mauri Kotamäki, Finnvera, Chief Economist (TBC)

Panel 2

• Moderator: Lucia Cusmano, Acting Head SMEs and Entrepreneurship Division, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, OECD

• Corinna Pape, CEO / Owner ETTLI Kaffee GmbH
• Koen Dierckx, Head of Unit, Budgetary guarantees and risk analysis, Directorate-General for Budget (DG BUDG), European Commission
• Ralf Peter Kronberger, Head of the Department Fiscal Policies and Taxation, Wirtschaftskammer Österreich (WKÖ) – the Austrian Federal Chamber of Economy, and Member of the Supervisory Board of aws, Austria
• Gerhard Huemer, Director Economic and Fiscal Policy, SMEunited

keynote speech:

• Sabine Hepperle, Head of the SME Policy department at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and SME Envoy (TBC)

Breakout Session: 2 introductory statements followed by a discussion (EN)

Topic 1: “The importance of advisory services”

• Nagla Bahr, Executive Board Member of the Credit Guarantee Company of Egypt, Lead Representative of the EMGN, and African Continental Coordinator of the GNGI
• Nicolas Pirotte, Wallonie Entreprendre, Belgium

Topic 2: “Capabilities to strengthen the defence sector”

• NN, Bpifrance (TBD)
• Inga Beiliūnienė, Member of the Board in charge of ILTE

Panel 3: “Guarantee programmes for development finance”

• Fernando Messineo Libano, International Labour Organisation (ILO) (TBC)
• NN, (TBD)

Panel 4: “Facilitate SMEs’ use of intellectual property rights”

• Inge Buffolo, Director of the Business Development Department, The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)
• NN, Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC / KIBO), Korea (TBD)

Highlights from the Breakout Session

Keynote Speech:

• NN (TBD following elections in Germany on 23/02/2025)

Concluding remarks:

• Guy Selbherr, President of AECM