08/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - Support to agricultural SMEs. On Tuesday 8 November, the European Commission approved a €22 million programme aimed at supporting the development of SMEs in Egypt, to improve living conditions and promote job creation in rural areas. The programme will improve access to finance for farmers and will also provide capacity building and training in order to improve farmers' business planning skills and enhance the understanding of local banks dealing with agricultural SMEs. The first farmers are due to benefit from the programme during the second half of 2012. (CG/transl.jl)