The ALDE Group held a conference on "Creating new opportunities for private sector growth" having taken place on 27 October 2011. Economic recovery and job creation go to the heart of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Achieving these objectives, however, requires releasing the potential of SMEs by enabling them to fully benefit from all measures provided by the internal market.

To this end, the conference explored various aspects of facilitating SME creation and development, including but not limited to, e-commerce and public procurement opportunities as well as fostering green growth. Among other things, the conference will explore the "Small Business Act" for Europe and the advantages this comprehensive policy framework provides for local and regional authorities as well as for entrepreneurs.

The conference took stock of both public and private sector experiences. It brought together ALDE members, representatives from regional authorities across Europe, civil servants working on business start-up policy, entrepreneurs who have recently started up a business and currently unemployed people who are planning to start up a business.