The creation of a Mediterranean coproduction observatory was announced at the EMCC 2014 Forum

The crises facing countries to the North, South and East of the region open a window of opportunity to transform the economic system in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean.  

“A model other than free trade is possible, and that is coproduction, which contributes to economic development and creates jobs, as well as fair, sustainable and more inclusive growth,” declared Miguel Angel Morantinos, chairman of IPEMED’s Political Steering Committee in his speech at the EMCC forum organized by the Economic Foresight Institute for the Mediterranean Region (IPEMED) on 4 December in Sousse, Tunisia.

This was the overriding message at this day of debates entirely devoted to coproduction in the Mediterranean, which gathered over 200 personalities from countries throughout the region.

As the speakers’ experience confirmed, coproduction in the Mediterranean is an industrial model that builds on the complementary strengths of countries in the region and is based on redistributing the value and production chains. Companies that practise it succeed in increasing their competitiveness in the short and long terms. Large-scale coproduction in countries in the region would create jobs to reabsorb massive unemployment and ensure long-term growth. Moreover, it offers companies an opportunity to consolidate their market positions in Europe and the Mediterranean, and branch out towards the recognized economic potential of sub-Saharan Africa.

To establish this movement, which is currently reserved to private initiatives but should be supported by public authorities on both sides of the Mediterranean, the creation of a Mediterranean coproduction observatory was announced at the forum. With a mission to monitor and accompany coproduction in the Mediterranean and make concrete recommendations to public authorities, the observatory, initiated in partnership with BPIfrance, the French Public Investment Bank, will work on bringing in other players from public and private spheres in the North and South.

“Companies are crucial to renewal, provided they cooperate. They are now in need of political impetus to ensure that this movement expands and accelerates,” concluded Neemat Frem, CEO of INDEVCO and Vice-President of the EMCC business initiative, in his concluding speech.


Sousse, 4 December 2014