Brussels, 21/04/2008 (Agence Europe) -Professional organisations and private sector networks have come together to launch an investment programme in the Mediterranean. This programme, known as "Invest in Med", with an envelope of €12 million over an initial period of 36 months, €9 million of which will be provided by the Commission, aims to increase investment capacity in the region, and to develop relations between businesses and intermediate organisations of each country, covering the 27 countries of the EU and the nine countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean.
The alliance is made up of: ANIMA, a network of investment promotion bodies in the Mediterranean, which has been appointed lead organisation of this project; Eurochambers, an association representing all of the Chambers of commerce of the EU, in association with ASCAME, the network of Chambers of commerce of the Mediterranean region; BusinessMed, an association of employer organisations of the region; ONUDI and GTZ Gmbh (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit - GTZ).
The partners note with interest that the upswing in commercial flows (an average of +10% between 2000 and 2006) has been helped by the liberalisation in trade as part of the Euromed process. Exports from partner countries into the Community market have increased, particularly from Algeria and Egypt (an average of 17% each). Tunisia, Syria and Jordan have increased their exports by around 6%. Over the same period, European sales also increased, but at a slower pace, according to figures published by the Commission: 4% on average each year. Not including trade with Turkey, the total volume of Euro-Mediterranean trade reached a level of €120 billion in 2006, representing more than 5% of extra-Community trade. (F.B.)