Southern Mediterranean countries would need to create 5 million jobs per year in order to maintain their unemployment rate. The ANIMA/MIPO observatory estimates the number of direct jobs created by foreign direct investment in the south below 100,000 per year, and probably half a million including the indirect jobs. The informal sector will also provide a large part of these jobs. But to create the 2 to 3 million remaining jobs, the region will need to rely on high growth SMEs, able to seek their critical size on international markets thanks to the attraction of external funding.

Regional instruments are missing today, to help the internationalisation of Med enterprises. Two types of tools appear to be essential. At first a network of experts to accompany Mediterranean enterprises in penetrating other countries’ markets. It would offer technical assistance in prospective, marketing or strategic fields that would complement the business meetings already organised by field operators. On the other hand, the region should create transnational financing instruments having in their portfolio companies from all over the region. These instruments would favor synergies between their enterprises and facilitate their international development.

Today a « SME initiative » is under study by Spanish and Italian governments, with the support of FEMIP/EIB, in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). The MedAlliance is watching the development of this instrument with a high interest, and would bring any promotional and operational support in order to contribute to its success. Thanks to its presence in each region of the UfM countries, the MedAlliance can identify projects to be supported, and also offer technical assistance services for helping companies to expand abroad. Above all, it is a powerful relay of information to mobilise hundreds of players on useful initiatives.

It was what this MedAlliance Round Table on “Financing and Accompaniment of enterprises” was about: mobilise on the crucial topic of internationalization of enterprises, exchange on the current of future initiatives and help the emergence of efficient operational co-operations between the Union for the Mediterranean and the MedAlliance networks.

The round table benefitted from the presence of important stakeholders among which the European Investment Bank (P. de Fontaine Vive, Vice President), the Union for the Mediterranean French co-presidency (J. Aubert, head of Projects Financing), the World Bank (B. Marchais, in charge of Guarantees Scheemes in MENA), UNIDO (J-B. Blavignac, Head of ITPO in MENA). The discussions were positive in regards to the actuel positioning of Invest in Med and the MedAlliance:

·        EIB and UfM representative highlighted that there will not be any new instrument competing with existing initiatives or structure,

·        The priority 6 should more likely be based on a network associating existing projects, and develop complementary bricks.

The MedAlliance realised during this event the necessity to explain and promote the Invest in Med actions wide and far to avoid any duplicating initiative coming from the UfM.