Brussels, 01/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Tunisian agency responsible for promoting investment and innovation has organised a joint conference with the EU Committee of the Regions (CoR), under the auspices of DG Enterprise. This conference will examine future industrial cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean area, particularly the specific case of Tunisia. This conference enjoyed the participation of Vice-President Antonio Tajani and helped to establish a balance sheet following on from the ministerial conference on industry and enterprise in Malta on 11-12 May. The results of the latter will be presented by Tajani on Tuesday as “proposals, which appear particularly appropriate to him”. He underlined that the primary axis on which the future work programme is based will be revision of the Business Charter, on the model of the European “Small Business Act”, as a way of developing a Euro-Mediterranean instrument. The second axis will be to create an assistance centre for “helping local SMEs and European investors develop partnerships, obtain better access to European programmes and funding, including access to credit and venture capital”. The third axis is speeding up the market integration process in order to benefit from the potential market of 700 million consumers. Fourth, is access to funding - Tajani confirmed the Commission's determination to “expand the EIB and EBRD's means for providing loans to neighbouring countries” and fifth is the work axis for “ensuring greater participation in Community programmes, particularly research and innovation”. As part of the bigger picture, there is also concern about helping enterprise take a qualitative leap forward. Tajani said that “there is no growth without innovation… it is imperative to help our neighbours with the transfer of know-how, by attempting to improve their inclusion and participation in our programmes on research, innovation and competitiveness”. He welcomed that as part of this initiative “a Tunisian consortium coordinated by the API at the Enterprise Europe Network has been participating since 2010”. One of the fields of application recommended would be services, particularly tourism, a key sector in the Euro-Mediterranean area. In conclusion, Tajani affirmed: “My vision includes a Euro-Mediterranean region where our companies can export, import, invest and develop business partnerships with neighbouring countries and, above all, create jobs, in conditions that are as efficient and legally secure as those existing in the European single market. We will then have created a single Euro-Mediterranean market.”
Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions, pointed out that “the different events have made it more obvious that there is a need to reorientate the role of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and for member states to review their respective approaches in order to be able to launch projects that correspond more to the expectations of the people and their most urgent needs”. The CoR will continue to support the Union for the Mediterranean but will also advocate the need for active participation from the local and regional authorities in the process. Recognition of the role played by the regional and local authorities at the UfM, together with the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), “is now a reality. It is the concrete expression of a common project of the Committee of the Regions, the regional authorities on the three different sides of the Mediterranean, as well as that of several international and European representative associations”. Luc Van den Brande, the president of the CoR's CIVEX commission underlined the fact that “the causes of the Tunisian revolution have deep roots… as well as a lack of opportunities for young university graduates and a socio-economic imbalance caused by regional disparities”. He is proposing that the different experiences of existing regionalisation models are shared. Speaking on the behalf of the European Training Foundation (ETF), Marleen Voordeckers illustrated all the different cooperation action programmes being undertaken in Tunisia, which are supported by the European institutions and help both business and the regions.
Abdelaziz Rassaa, the Tunisian minister for industry and enterprise, stated: “We are counting on support from our partners to tackle the shortcomings and overcome the difficulties we expect to a limited extent in the short term”. He also said that “Tunisia needs to develop cooperation with the international community, which should consider the Tunisian revolution as an 'international public asset' in order to avoid the initial contraction of its economy, something its society cannot afford.” Nevertheless, “the democratic transition desired by all Tunisians is at risk of experiencing real difficulties due to the absence of recovery in economic growth”. This explained why decisive European and international support was required. The director-general of the API, Ferid Tounsi, subsequently drew up a balance sheet, backed up by hands-on testimonies from Belgian companies and the Belgian attaché in Tunis, to explain that despite current uncertainties, companies are remaining loyal to Tunisia, a country that has practically completed its integration into the European economic and regulatory area. (F.B./transl.fl)