The Third SME Congress of Americas took place in Colombia last May, 2009. As with the two previous Congresses, small business service providers in the Americas shared best practices in preparing SMEs to participate in the international marketplace and discussed strategy to facilitate opportunities for small business trade linkages among the participating countries.

The selection of Colombia as the host country for the Congress, was confirmed by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Luis Guillermo Plata, in August, 2008, in Atlanta, Georgia during the “Second Americas Competitiveness Forum .”

The Third Congress was held in the city of Cali, Colombia the 28th and 29th of May, 2009. The central theme was “SME Trade Capacity Building in Challenging Times.”

Specific topics included: “Methods of training for SMEs in International Trade;” “Experiences in Training and Facilitating Market Linkages for SMEs;” “E-SMEs and International Trade; Electronic networking for SME in the Ameritas;” “Access to Financing for SMEs, through Innovative Instruments.” Specific topics will include: “Methods of training for SMEs in International Trade;” “Experiences in Training and Facilitating Market Linkages for SMEs;” “E-SMEs and International Trade; Electronic networking for SME in the Ameritas;” “Access to Financing for SMEs, through Innovative Instruments.”

The event was carried out in coordination with the Colombian IV forum on Microenterprise and both meetings have been linked under the theme “Collision for Productive Transformation and SME Internationalization” since May 27th