A host of initiatives

The Mediterranean Chambers are in a turmoil following the creation of the Union for the Mediterranean, which is hardly surprising as the viability of this vast project depends to a great extent on the participation of the private sector. Brussels intends to be the driving force behind the Union but expects non-state players to help with the financing. One example of this policy is the Invest in Med programme, which aims to develop investment and encourage trade flows and sustainable business partnerships between countries on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea.
Mainly financed by the European Union, the project is designed to “initiate multilateral south-south and north-south economic exchanges,” explains Benedict de Saint Laurent, project coordinator at Anima Investment Network, the programme’s economic development platform.
Invest In Med serves as a trigger by bringing together players from three major networks - Business Med, which groups employers’ federations from around the Mediterranean, Ascame, the Association of Mediterranean CCIs, and Eurochambres – to work on a variety of different initiatives and projects. Every six months, the members can submit proposals for initiatives. To be accepted and thereby benefit from the financial aid, such initiatives must meet the sine qua non condition of concerning multilateral projects. About sixty proposals were accepted last September, including the Agro-Alimed initiative, presented by the Chambers of Valence (Spain) and Casablanca (Morocco), which offers support for SMEs in the agri-food sector in these two regions in terms of their international development. Another project that was accepted was the Med-Zones initiative, proposed by the Marseille-Provence Chamber, in partnership with Eurochambres and Ascame, which aims to improve the sustainability of zones dedicated to economic activities.
Representing nearly 500 Chambers of Commerce in 21 countries around the Mediterranean Sea, Ascame serves as a precious tool for promoting the region. The network’s member Chambers naturally showed great interest in the launching of the Invest in Med project. For its part, Ascame helped the Chambers by providing all the support required to keep them informed and to help them present their initiatives. However, the association, which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary, also develops its own partnership projects between its members. A wide-reaching action plan is due to be presented this month. Headed by its charismatic Turkish president, Murat Yalcintas, Ascame intends to become the Mediterranean equivalent of Eurochambres. As Paul Bichat, Mediterranean coordinator at the Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce, explains: “Ascame has undertaken significant development under Murat Yalcintas’ presidency, particularly in terms of content.”
Other vital players in the collaboration between the Chambers of Commerce in the Mediterranean Basin, the local and regional authorities provide the key public support required for bilateral partnerships. This is true of the Spanish autonomous communities, which are developing a growing number of partnerships with the Moroccan regions, with priority for alliances between Chambers. The same is true of the Italian and Tunisian regions. In France, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region and the Tanger-Tétouan region recently signed a partnership agreement concerning a programme for transferring savoir-faire on Chamber affairs. Finally, the Euro regions are now also trying to mobilise the Chambers of Commerce to work on trans-Mediterranean economic development. The first such initiative was an ‘entrepreneurial bridge’, created under the auspices of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euro Region (Midi-Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon, Aragon, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands). At a meeting on 14 November in Palma de Majorca, the Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce of North Africa held precious discussions with their European counterparts in a view to drawing up common partnership goals.