Elena Viyella de Paliza, president of private business association CONEP, has suggested that the government create a compensation fund to help small- and medium-sized businesses face the challenge of an unregulated market, as is expected with the introduction of the forthcoming free trade agreement with the US. The government has set up schemes that support these smaller companies, mainly in the shape of finance, but these efforts have been insufficient for them to face the challenges ahead, said Viyella de Paliza. Small- and medium-sized businesses, she said, were the most vulnerable to changes in the market as part of the process of opening up trade relations.