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Home > Invest-in-Med > The Mediterranean region 
The Mediterranean regionAt the crossroads of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the Mediterranean Sea, that the Romans called Mare Nostrum (our sea), is the very cradle of Western civilisation. From the Roman Empire to the Egyptian pyramids, from the Greek thinkers to the philosophers of the Enlightenment, from the birth of the Judeo-Christian religions to modern day, the Mediterranean world has, over the centuries, born privileged testimony to the important evolutions of humanity. Extending from East to West over 3,860 km, it is 800 km wide in the West and 1,000 km wide in the East, and flanks twenty seven countries which have shared a common destiny for centuries. With this impressive heritage behind them, together with their strategic geographical situation, the Mediterranean States today have every intention of exploiting their numerous assets so as to take up the challenges of the third millennium. One hundred and forty kilometres only separate Sicily from Tunisia and fourteen separate Spain from Morocco -a geographical reality which bears witness to the privileged historic links maintained for centuries by the two sides of the Mediterranean. Today, these relations of proximity, even if they do not hide the economic fracture which still exists between the North and the South, nevertheless constitute the bonding material of a new common living space. A high level economic power at world crossroadsIncluding the Northern rim, the Mediterranean space, with a population of nearly 380 million inhabitants (that is 7 % of the world population) spread between the different countries on its shores (42 % of which are in Europe and 36 % on the Southern shores) produce 15 % of the annual wealth of the planet and make up 16 % of world trade. An important market esaly accessibleBeyond the endogenous potential of market, the south-Mediterranean countries commit themselves in the negotiation of free trade agreements with the great areas of the world, making their accessible market significant Association agreements with the EUSince 2005, all southern and eastern-southern countries benefits from the Euro Mediterranean association agreements: from Algeria to Turkey, through Egypt, Israel and Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Tunisia. The association agreement with Syria signed in October 2004 is not applicable yet. 10 years after the Barcelona agreements setting up, the commercial liberalisation of industrial products has become a tangible reality: all the products coming from the Mediterranean countries have access to the EU market, with special custom taxes. reciprocally, Mediterranean countries a process of progressive dismantling their customs rates which is generally spread out over a dozen year. Moreover, the commercial liberalisation process on agricultural products is also widely operational. More than 80% of the imported agricultural products from Mediterranean rims enter thus the European Union duty-free of customs or at preferential tariffs. Reciprocally, a third of European exports of agricultural produce profits from rates in the Mediterranean countrie.
QIZ agreements with the USA In parallel, Egypt and Jordan set up agreements QIZ with the United States, which establishes a free exchange for a certain number of manufactured goods. Agadir: to a southern integration The Agadir Agreement, signed between Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt on February 25, 2004, commits the parts to eliminate the main part of the customs duties on their reciprocal exchanges as of January 1, 2005 and to intensify their economic co-operation standards customs procedures. Geographical and cultural proximity of a qualified working forceThe Mediterranean countries are mostly on the same time zones, at a distance from 1 to 4 hours of plane. It is easy to find employees well qualified in French, English, Spanish and Italian. Mediterranean youth aspires now to an economic revolution: that of the private sector, the individual initiative and international competitiveness. |
The Invest in Med programme aims at developing sustainable trade relationships, investments and enterprise partnerships between the two rims of the Mediterranean. Funded at 75% by the European Union over the 2008-2011 period, it is implemented by the MedAlliance consortium, which associates economic development organisations (ANIMA, leader of the programme), CCIs (ASCAME, EUROCHAMBRES), and business federations (BUSINESSMED). The members of these networks, as well as their special partners (UNIDO, GTZ, EPA Euroméditerranée, World Bank, etc.), gather a thousand of economic actors - mobilised through pilot initiatives centered on key Mediterranean promising niches. Each year, a hundred operations associate the 27 countries of the European Union and 9 Mediterranean partner countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia.