Special edition no.15: FEMIP
Morocco has not reached the targets it set itself in 2009 in its Moroccan Innovation Strategy (Stratégie Maroc Innovation) plan. Innovative project holders are consequently struggling to find funding, especially in the initial stages of their business ventures.

Special edition no.15 : FEMIP
Mustapha Kchir, SME sector manager at the Bank of Tunisia, takes stock of the difficulties and challenges in providing proper support to innovative SMEs, including vital technical assistance to ensure good access to finance.

Special edition no.15 : FEMIP
JORDAN. In a difficult regional context, the Kingdom has advantages enabling it to consider its economic future from an innovation perspective.

Special edition no.15 : FEMIP
Khater Abi Habib, President and CEO of the SME loan guarantee finance company, Kafalat, reviews the situation of innovation in Lebanon.

Special edition no.15 : FEMIP
MEDITERRANEAN. Economic change in Southern Mediterranean countries will occur more easily if it results in direct benefits for employment, particularly for young people. Existing schemes to fund innovative SMEs cover a wide range of needs but can still progress.

Version française

A consequence of political and military crises, after two years of high levels of funding, 2013 has seen a slow-down in the level of EIB investment on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean. FEMIP (the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership) brings together all of the EIB’s work supporting socio-economic development in Mediterranean partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Gaza-West Bank, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and soon Libya). Its director, Flavia Palanza, has the power to carry out substantial funding, but there has been a decline in the take-up and use of new lending by partner countries. Version française

version française

French version

Manufacturing with OCP, techno-hubs with MEDZ, and Plan Maroc vert (green Morocco), the European Investment Bank makes its presence in Morocco felt like never before. The EIB grants over €270 million in loans to this country in just a few days. MOROCCO / EUROPE. By signing a loan for €130 million...

Since April 2011, the underwater pipeline, half of which is funded by a €500-million loan from the European Investment Bank, has been supplying the Spanish market with Algerian gas. SPAIN / ALGERIA. If Medgaz is technically able to operate at 100% capacity, as welcomed by its Board of Directors at...

While the US and European banking systems were overwhelmed by the subprime crisis and credit crunch, Mediterranean member countries of the FEMIP (*) to a large extent withstood the crisis in 2009. How did they overcome this hurdle, and how can the road to growth be rediscovered? A study on this issue was published by Femise and the EIB on 29 November 2010.

The difficulties associated with the crisis must not call structural policies into question. On the contrary: Mediterranean states’ tradition of support should continue, with an emphasis on industrial policies and continued efforts at opening up their markets.

An emphasis on training and encouraging the emergence of business clusters to produce value-added: these are the challenges to be addressed by countries in the Mediterranean if they wish to remain in the race in the face of the emergence of competitors from Asia.

MEDITERRANEAN. FEMIP, the financial arm of the EIB, has put a technical assistance programme in place to encourage partner Mediterranean countries to resort to PPP in order to accelerate the realisation of their major infrastructure programmes.