On 19 March 2026, the Regional Agency for Development and European Integration Belgrade organized a regional meeting with stakeholders within the project [[nt]] WOMEX — The Role of Women in the Competitiveness of Exporting SMEs. [[/nt]] The meeting was held at the Agency's premises in Belgrade and brought together representatives of institutions, organizations, as well as entrepreneurs active in export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises.
The aim of the meeting was to exchange experiences, present the results of the project so far and open a dialogue on the improvement of support measures for women in exports.
In the introductory part of the meeting, the participants were presented with the objectives and agenda of the event, as well as key information about the [[nt]] WOMEX [[/nt]] project and its implementation so far. Sonja Manojlović, a member of the project team in front of RAREI Belgrade, presented the project, the partnership structure of the implemented activity, with special reference to the activities so far and the next steps in implementation.
In the following, Ivana Petrović and Jelena Vujicic from the Association of Business Women of Serbia presented the first findings of the research, focusing on the methodological framework of the research as well as the preliminary results of the research which identified the challenges faced by women in export-oriented SMEs, as well as the potentials for improving their competitiveness in the international market.
A special segment was devoted to the institutional support framework, where Ljiljana Marković, member of the RAREI Belgrade project team, presented measures and activities within the Employment Program of the City of Belgrade with the Action Plan, with emphasis on the pillar related to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as opportunities for further strengthening the economic position of women through existing and future support programs.
The central part of the event was dedicated to an openand interactive discussion between stakeholders and women entrepreneurs, during which concrete experiences from practice were exchanged and key challenges faced by women in export-oriented SMEs were identified. Owners and managers from the companies Solo, Euro Profil, Hedera Vita and Slovo actively participated in the discussion, who through their examples pointed to administrative and market barriers in the process of internationalization, challenges in access to financing, as well as the need to strengthen capacities in the field of marketing, digitalization and positioning in foreign markets.
The meeting concluded by defining the next steps, which include further analysis of the collected recommendations and their integration into the future activities of the [[nt]] WOMEX [[/nt]] project, with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of women in export-oriented SMEs.
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