Regional conference on Factoring as an alternative tool for financing SMEs” was held on 14 May, in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia.USAID North Macedonia, Economic Chamber of Commerce of North Macedonia and our new affiliate member Factor Trust organized the factoring conference in cooperation with FCI. More than 140 representatives from the financial sector, regulatory bodies, government authorities, and commercial banks participated in the meeting with great interest.The opening speeches were performed by Koco Angjushev (Deputy Prime Minister of Macedonia), Mrs. Gretchen Birkle (Acting Country Representative of USAID), Mrs. Shiret Elezi (Deputy Minister of Finance of North Macedonia) and Panos Papatheodorou (Member of FCI executive Committee). Both two government representatives gave very positive messages about legislating the factoring law, supporting the factoring activities and configuration of the factoring substructure in Macedonia. Betul Kurtuluş, FCI Chapter Director responsible for the Middle East, delivered a presentation with regard to the latest developments in the receivables finance industry, the world of Factoring, statistics and FCI.Aysen Çetintaş, FCI Education Director, gave a presentation about the operational aspects of domestic and international factoring, factoring products and varieties, correspondent factoring system, the role of Import and export factor, and Edifactoring.The conference continued with an important panel discussion. The panel, moderated by Mr. Darko Stefanovski, was highly interesting and interactive. The speakers discussed opportunities and challenges facing the receivables finance industry and innovating and providing more financial solutions to SME’s. In the panel, Mrs. Suzana Tunteva, President of the Supervisory Board, Faktor Trust, Mr. Darko Gichev, Deputy head of Corporate banking division, Stopanska Banka AD Skopje, Mrs. Danijela Lopicic Executive Director in ABL Factor doo Belgrade, Mr. Dejan Barbutovski, Managing Director, A.B.S. Factoring d.o.o Slovenia and Panos Papatheodoru, ExCom Member of FCI shared their valuable ideas on the necessity of a legal infrastructure for factoring in North Macedonia and Balkan countries.The event, hosted representatives of government, USAID project, and bankers, is a major step with regard to increasing awareness about the advantages of factoring, to encourage the receivables finance applications and to establishing legal grounds of factoring implementations in North Macedonia. The meeting was ended with great success.