Conference on Private Sector Business start-ups: EUR 25 million loan for Local Authorities
On 9 December 2004, Mr Philippe de Fontaine Vive, EIB Vice-President with responsibility for FEMIP, and Mr Jean-Louis Biancarelli, Director General for Lending Operations outside Europe, held a series of discussions at the highest level with the Tunisian authorities and officially inaugurated the Tunis office of the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP), in the presence of Mr Mohamed Jouini, Minister for Development and International Cooperation.
The role of FEMIP's representative office in Tunis is to ensure local coordination with the Tunisian authorities, borrowers, the banking sector and lenders; to help identify new projects, especially those focusing on the private sector; and to facilitate the implementation of FEMIP technical assistance. Headed by Mr Diederick Zambon, the Bank's representative office will be fully operational as from the beginning of January 2005.
Speaking at the inauguration, Mr de Fontaine Vive commented:
As well as keeping in close touch with local conditions and strengthening its presence in the region, FEMIP is lending at the rate of EUR 2 billion a year and deploys new financing instruments and techniques. It has also stepped up the dialogue with the Partner Countries through its Ministerial and Experts Committees. The new office will facilitate communication with private sector businesses, which are vital for Tunisia's development. The commitment under the Barcelona Process to establishing a free trade area between the southern and northern shores of the Mediterranean by 2010 requires not only substantial financial support but also unswerving political will on both sides of the Mediterranean. The aim is to encourage far-reaching reforms conducive to improving the investment climate and developing a flourishing private sector in an efficient market economy. Our presence in Tunisia serves these objectives.
During his visit to Tunisia, Mr de Fontaine Vive joined Mr Mohamed Jouini at the Conference on "Starting up a business in Tunisia" organised by the Ministry for Development and International Cooperation to coincide with the inauguration of FEMIP's representative office in Tunis. The participants stressed the role that FEMIP plays and must continue to play in support of private sector development via appropriate financing.
Mr de Fontaine Vive also signed a EUR 25 million loan in favour of Caisse des Prêts et de Soutien des Collectivités Locales (CPSCL) for the financing of infrastructure investment by Tunisian local authorities. The finance contract concluded between the EIB and CPSCL was signed today in Tunis with Mr Mohammed Zakhama, Managing Director of CPSCL, in the presence of Mr Mohamed Jouini.
At the signing ceremony, Mr de Fontaine Vive affirmed FEMIP's continuing resolve, as part of this joint effort, to support priority local socio-economic infrastructure projects via reliable local financial partners. FEMIP will respond to the needs of local authorities in the Mediterranean region, as it already does in other countries. This approach ties in with FEMIP's priorities of assisting economic liberalisation and strengthening economic infrastructure, goals identified by the Barcelona Process as necessary for private sector development.
In order to maximise the positive impact of operations financed by international lenders in the region, this project is being financed in close cooperation with the World Bank and the Agence Française de Développement.
Loans in the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) are granted under the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP). This Facility focuses primarily on private sector development and financing socio-economic infrastructure to foster this development.
FEMIP is the culmination of a partnership between the European Union and its Mediterranean neighbours going back over thirty years, which was strengthened in the 1990s to underpin the Barcelona Process launched by the Barcelona Conference in November 1995. Its aim is to assist the MPCs in meeting the challenges of economic and social modernisation and improved regional integration, in line with the Wider Europe Neighbourhood Policy and looking ahead to the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area. It enables the EU to step up its cooperation with the Partner Countries. Thanks to this Facility, with its increased financial resources, the EIB has been able progressively to expand its annual lending in the region from EUR 1.5 billion to EUR 2 billion. FEMIP accords priority to financing private sector ventures, with the dual aim of liberalising the economies of the MPCs and developing their potential in the run-up to the establishment of a customs union between these countries and the EU by 2010. It focuses on foreign direct investment and local private sector initiatives as well as social sector projects, particularly in the fields of health, education and environmental protection, with the aim of promoting social stability and encouraging productive investment.
FEMIP has contributed to the development of the Tunisian economy by lending some EUR 2.2 billion for key economic infrastructure and private sector projects.