The cosmetic sector in the Mashreq region uses specific know-how and a variety of natural products but is still quite unknown in Europe, despite its market proximity. Designed to unveil the potential of Middle Eastern industrial and natural cosmetic products to the European market and to boost the growth potential of this industry in the region, the Med Cosmetics initiative has associated various business supporting organisations to specialised clusters such as the Cosmed association and the French Cosmetic Valley. The initiative has helped to produce a diagnosis of the sector in Lebanon and in Syria and to reinforce Mediterranean producers' capacities. Over 200 business meetings provided Mediterranean enterprises – for the first time for most of them - with the opportunity to meet their European counterparts. The initiative has also raised awareness among them on the added-value of their products and motivated them to develop new actions to preserve their specificities and promote their internationalisation.