Colloquium on contractual networks and other forms of inter-firm cooperation
Working Group I on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) will hold a Colloquium on MSMEs’ models of cooperation on 25 and 26 March 2019 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
As decided at UNCITRAL's 51st session (in July 2018), the Colloquium will explore legal tools, used in different jurisdictions, that aim at facilitating MSMEs’ cooperation by sharing of resources, providing a means of accessing business opportunities, facilitating access to finance and permitting sharing of property and of labour. The focus will mainly be on models with a relatively low level of initial capital, low entry and exit costs and a light governance infrastructure. The Colloquium will discuss the relevance of such models to the current work of UNCITRAL Working Group I on developing an enabling legal environment for MSMEs. The conclusions of the colloquium should assist UNCITRAL in evaluating the desirability of taking up work in this area.
The Colloquium will be open to experts from governments, private sector, academia and the non-profit sector and will be conducted on an informal basis. Interpretation in the six official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) will be available.
Experts seeking to participate will need to register and collect a grounds pass from the United Nations Security Pass and ID Unit (a passport is required for the release of the pass).
The Colloquium will be followed by the thirty-second session of Working Group I from 27 to 29 March. Attendance at the Working Group is restricted to Member and Observer States and those intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations invited to participate.
[UN Photo/Manuel Elias]