Conference “Development of Small and Medium Businesses in Russia and Women’s Poverty Reduction” will be held by UNDP, with the support of the Council of Federation, Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, on 4 December in President Hotel.

All the United Nations member-states, including the Russian Federation, assumed commitments to attain the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, including poverty reduction and elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

Russia has very few business development programs which target women as special entrepreneurial group in Russia’s regions. An acute issue is the need of start-up entrepreneurs to have access to financial resources.

The tasks of the conference are: (1) to facilitate legislative changes which would promote women’s businesses at the federal and regional level, in rural and urban area; (2) to intensify cross regional dialogue on women’s entrepreneurship; (3) to disseminate positive experience of women’s business and development of gender oriented components in companies’ social programs.