Big donors are lining up to fund small and medium sized region-focussed enterprises, Mona El-Fiqi reports The first Euro-Mediterranean Conference and Exhibition on Donor Funding, Banking and Novel Financial Instruments was held in Cairo last week. Some 400 businessmen and high-ranking officials from Egypt and EU member countries attended the two-day conference. During the conference a grant agreement of the "MEDA Finance Project" was signed between Alaa Ezz, secretary general of the Confederation of Egyptian European- Business Associations (CEEBA), Adham Nadim, executive director of the Industrial Modernisation Centre (IMC) and Benedict de Saint-Laurent, managing director of the "Invest in MED" programme at the European Commission. The MEDA Finance '09 agreement comes in the context of the goal of the Athens Business Summit: "Creating bridges across the Mediterranean." By virtue of the agreement, $22 billion is available in financial and technical assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region as well as European and foreign SMEs wanting to invest in the region. MEDA Finance '09 is co- funded by the European Commission and will be implemented by CEEBA, the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), the General Authority for Investment (GAFI), the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and Business MED and its members. According to Alaa Ezz, the grant has already funded the first ever survey of all available financial tools and instruments targeting southern Mediterranean enterprises. MEDA Finance '09 focuses on existing financing and funding sources that have yet to be fully utilised as well as newly developed strategies and future programmes. IMC's Nadim explained: "The European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and bilateral and multi-lateral development banks are already availing a host of grants, technical assistance instruments and -- more important -- preferential lines of credit for Mediterranean SMEs." The increased interest in MEDA means that the Mediterranean region succeeded in attracting the European business community as well as international financial entities to finance projects in the region. Indeed, the Mediterranean region has been less affected by the global crisis with growth rates ranging between 2.9 to 5.2 per cent in 2008 compared to a negative 1.2 per cent in the EU. Moreover, indicators for the first quarter of 2009 show an average growth of over four per cent, indicating economic opportunities. Such high growth is the result of years of serious reform, with visible improvements made in the business environment. The region becomes all the more appealing with large domestic markets with growing purchasing power, access to free trade areas of one billion consumers, inclusive the EU, EFTA, Arab and African countries, low-cost yet highly skilled labour, and modern logistics to access regional markets. As for Egypt, Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid said that the country aims at attracting foreign direct investment of $10 billion by 2010 and $14 billion by 2011. Rachid added that the private sector is playing an important role in the development process, setting out strategies and plans and helping the government in implementation. According to Rachid, the government is also considering providing LE15 billion as incentives and privileges to industrial sectors negatively affected by the international financial crisis.
