The CraftsMatch Project aims at reinforcing the capacity of the Asian crafts SMEs to access new markets and encouraging the development of new Asian-European crafts business partnerships between Asian crafts communities and Asian and European trade professionals (retailers, exporters, designers-cum-entrepreneurs, wholesalers) through the use of advanced information technologies.
The CraftsMatch Project will support the creation of a Euro-Asian sustainable and high-quality IT-assisted matchmaking network focused on authentic, high-quality and environmentally friendly handicrafts in the participating countries of Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Lao PDR, Germany and Greece.
Specifically, the objectives of the CraftsMatch Project are:

	enhancing the skills and ability of crafts SMEs to better organize and internationalise their business strategy through the use of advanced information technologies (IT)
	organizing thematic matchmaking events for local crafts SMEs and crafts trade professionals carefully selected to ensure the success of these business meetings
	setting up IT-assisted Virtual Crafts Incubators on a pilot basis
	offering a set of tailored, state-of-the-art IT tools, facilities, services and functionalities, especially designed for crafts SMEs and the professionals in the crafts sector to allow them to retrieve information, support networking, exchange of experience and engage in business value added activities.
	enhancing the ability of crafts SMEs to establish lasting networks amongst themselves and with relevant crafts trade professionals
	enabling the exchange of experience and best practices between the Asian and European craft sector

The CraftsMatch Project is supported by a network of organizations and business associations involved in the support and promotion of the crafts sector in Asia and Europe for many years and intimately familiar with the problems faced by the crafts sector, along the entire crafts supply chain. Most of the Consortium Partners are affiliated with the World Crafts Council International, the largest UNESCO-recognized NGO, working on an international basis to support the crafts sector and with the CraftsNet Network. They have established and maintained contact with one another over a period of several years through these affiliations and have worked together in various combinations on a number of projects to date (EASYCRAFT www.easycraft.org, Link-all www.link-all.org, CraftsNet www.craftsnet.org).

The duration of this Euro-Asian Project is 24 months. It is funded under the Programme Asia Invest 2006-2007 supported by the EC-EuropeAid Cooperation Office.