The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with support from the European Union and the United States, is holding a specialised training session in trade finance for local consultants. The event will be held in Bishkek on 8 April 2015 and will equip potential consultants with effective tools and techniques to assist them in providing better trade finance consultancy.

Many SMEs (importers, exporters and local distributors of imported goods) currently use working capital or overdraft facilities without knowing that other, less risky, payment options are available for import/export transactions. The main reason for this is the low level of understanding of the benefits of trade finance and its products among the importers, exporters and local distributors of imported goods. The EBRD responded to this gap with comprehensive training sessions for local marketing and management consultants to increase awareness and facilitate better access to trade finance instruments for SMEs in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Through this event, over twenty local consultants will learn how to develop trade finance strategy for SMEs, through a business plan and financial models, see benefits of trade finance products and relevant marketing and selling techniques, advise local SMEs on the best use of different trade finance instruments. The participants of the training course will then serve as qualified consultants for current and potential exporters in the Kyrgyz Republic, and hence contribute to the overall growth of the Kyrgyz economy.

The trade finance training in Bishkek is part of a broader technical co-operation project of the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) and Small Business Support (SBS) aiming at expanding SME access to trade finance. The project trains the local consultants that work with SBS and the sales and marketing staff at TFP’s partner banks. Similar workshops were organised for Demir Kyrgyz International Bank on 6-7 April 2015 whereby over 90 of their sales and marketing staff were introduced to the benefits of different trade finance instruments.

The EBRD has been helping small and medium-sized businesses in the Kyrgyz Republic access external advice since 2005. This has been made possible thanks to donor funding from the Government of Switzerland as a core-funder, and co-financed by Japan and the United States, as well as from the EBRD’s Shareholder Special Fund.