Brussels, 20/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - A European conference on financial and banking services and their benefits to the economic transition in the Mediterranean opened on Wednesday 20 February in Brussels. For two days, experts from the finance, services and trade sectors will exchange views on the use of a variety of financial instruments and the current consequences of the crisis.
The Director General of DG External Relations at the European Commission, Eneko Landaburu, declared, “the last few weeks fully illustrate the importance and relevance of this subject…as Financial services are at the focus of international attention”. Landaburu was accompanied by Mr Andrej Bajuk from the Slovenian Finance Department when he opened the conference. Mr Bajuk's country is chairing the work of the EU Council.
Landaburu said the subprime crisis was one of the causes of this crisis, proving a certain fragility on global financial development. He noted that financial players, both public and private, were still assessing the exact size and impact (of the crisis) on “the productive economy”. To this had to be added the price of a barrel of oil which “will remain for some time yet at a very high level”. The following question had to be asked, he said: high oil prices bring in huge revenue for producer countries, but what will they do with this unexpected capital? According to Landaburu, growth and employment in the region would depend on how these countries “use and make these flows work for them”.
The Mediterranean had to reform to make itself more attractive. As an example, Slovenian Finance Minister Bajuk spoke of the reforms carried out by his county before accession to the EU. Former Moroccan Finance Minister Fathallah Oualalou highlighted the need to emphasise “trade facilitation”, a support measure especially for SMEs. Oualalou, who now heads the permanent structure of the Agadir Agreement, the main network of “horizontal” free trade agreements between the EU's Southern Mediterranean partners, investment and trade development go hand in hand. “When there are viable projects, investment comes,” he said. He announced that a Forum on trade and investment in the Agadir Zone would be held in Brussels on 8 April.
Didier Reynders, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Institutional Reform, called for no opprobrium to be directed towards the financial system, and in particular sovereign funds. When asked about the Mediterranean Union proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Landaburu welcomed the initiative insofar as it could encourage investment in the region. (F.B.)