Launching of the project on North African industrialisation
Kelly Robin
In connection with its sectorial works, IPEMED developed the concept of “coproduction” in order to promote a new “win-win” economic cooperation model based on the sharing of added value and technology transfer between the North and the South of the Mediterranean, thus enabling the rise in the range of the jobs created in Mediterranean countries. During its annual Forum that was held in Sousse in December 2014, IPEMED launched the Mediterranean Coproduction Observatory that aims at showing that coproduction is the way forward, by qualitatively analysing the industrial strategies of Southern and Northern Mediterranean countries as well as the investments made by Northern and Southern companies. The first publication of the Coproduction Observatory enabled to provide an accurate account of the macro-economic situation of the seven Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey) and of the investment dynamics at work in these countries, especially with the four northern Mediterranean countries of the sample (Germany, Spain, France and Italy). The “country” studies carried out later (Tunisia, Morocco) as well as the regional studies (PACA Region, Occitanie/Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region) highlighted promising sectors that could favour the implementation of coproduction projects, the action levers (regulatory, financial) and showed the necessity to work locally with SMBs/ETIs.
Since the Observatory also aims to offer public authorities recommendations to remove obstacles to coproduction, IPEMED is willing to strengthen its reflection in 2017 with an extra study on “North African Industrialisation, from Morocco to Egypt”. This study will aim to raise awareness in European and North African political and economic decision-makers on the industrialisation potential of the area in partnership with Europe.