This evaluation was commissioned by the Evaluation Unit in the Directorate General Development and Cooperation on behalf of the European Commission. It assesses European Union support to private sector development (PSD) during the period 2004 - 2010, where a total of €2.4bn of funds was directly contracted by the Commission. It aims at providing an overall independent assessment of the EU ’s past and current cooperation for PSD and at identifying key lessons with a view to improving its strategies and programmes.