Brussels, 12/0/2011 (Agence Europe) - Finance ministers from member states belonging to the Euro-Mediterranean area met on Tuesday 12 July in Brussels for the annual session of the Facility for the Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership Management Committee Meeting (FEMIP) (EUROPE 10416). The meeting was attended by the secretary-general of the UfM (Union for the Mediterranean), Youssef Amrani. Only Tunisia, Turkey and Jordan were represented at a government level.
Their discussions, during a working lunch, focused on the examination of the 2010 FEMIP report and support for countries fighting for democracy (Tunisia and Egypt). According to the vice president of the EIB, Philippe de Fontaine Vive, there is good news celebrate: the setting up of the FEMIP-linked monetary fund. This monetary fund aims to respond to the lack of initial funding for projects that are still in their conceptualisation phase. The EIB explained that it intends to strengthen the already significant resources available to FEMIP in an effort to support Mediterranean countries and help them finance studies and provide venture capital. This is aimed at making projects become attractive to private investors. The fund is supported by voluntary contributions by member states, which confer management of the venture on the EIB for part of their funding to the region.
Set up in 2004 after a decision by the European Council, 15 member states provided €33.5 million between 2005 and 2010. Reactivating the fund was done by way of an announcement by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the provision of €1.2 million. Spain has announced that it will confer management of funding worth €300 million to the Mediterranean. The Palestinian Authority announced its decision on Tuesday that it will confirm management of this funding to FEMIP, which will be used for the water purification plants in Gaza, one of the projects that the UfM is pushing forward.
Ministers have given their agreement to supporting an SME promotion programme proposed by the European Investment Bank. A Euromed conference on small and medium-sized businesses will take place in Tunis in December this year. Jordan will be playing host to a tourism enterprise conference at the beginning of 2012. (F.B./transl.fl)