EuroMed Ministerial meeting on industry to go ahead in May - focus on jobs and youth in wake of recent events

The 8th Euro-Mediterranean ministerial meeting on industry will go ahead in Malta in May, in spite of the current events in the region, a meeting of the Working Party on Euro-Mediterranean Industrial Cooperation has decided – stressing the industrial cooperation process was more relevant and useful than ever. All nine Mediterranean partner countries were represented at senior level at the Working Party meeting in Brussels last week, as were 15 Member States and representatives of national and international business associations. “Considering the current events on the Southern rim of the Mediterranean, this participation of all MED neighbour countries is a remarkable achievement in itself and signals a continuous, strong commitment to the cooperation process,” a press release from DG Enterprise and Industry said. Delegates from the partner countries underlined that industrial cooperation was more useful than ever in the present circumstances, and spoke of the need to increase joint efforts, paying particular attention to the pressing need of creating jobs and a future for skilled youth in the southern Mediterranean. The main objective of the meeting was to prepare the 8th ministerial Euro-Mediterranean ministerial meeting on industry to be held in Malta, on 11-12 May 2011. Discussions in Malta will revolve around four topics:

• Promoting partnerships and investment
• Improving innovation and the business environment
• Preparing and concluding Agreements on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Goods (ACAAs)
• Mobilising the business community to implement projects under the Union for the Mediterranean

Discussing the draft work programme for 2011-2012, which will be submitted to Ministers for approval in Malta, participants at the Working Party meeting underlined that, given latest developments in the region and the expectations of young people, priority attention should be paid to entrepreneurship, start-ups, SMEs, regional development and the need for more transparency to promote investment, including from the diaspora. Euro-Mediterranean industrial cooperation unfolds within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Union for the Mediterranean. The purpose of the process is to bring industrial policy on both sides of the Mediterranean closer together in order to help business to go international. Concrete activities mainly consist in exchanging information, knowledge, tools and good practice to improve the business environment and spur entrepreneurship across the region.