Description
This project aims to contribute to greater trade in the Euro-Mediterranean region by helping SME’s to take better informed trade decisions when doing international business. It will address the problem of the lack of information transparency in the Euro-Med region and thereby promote greater intra-regional trade and investment. The countries targeted by the project include: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, State of Palestine and Tunisia. Actual trade between countries in the region is well below its potential based on analysis of trade pattern complementarity. ITC’s enterprise-level surveys in Egypt, Morocco, State of Palestine and Tunisia also find that procedural obstacles and lack of information about NTMs play a big part in restricting intra-regional trade. The project will contribute to trade information transparency by providing an online portal for use by economic operators, with market information on NTMs, trade flows and related indicators, customs tariffs and other information that facilitate trade related decisions of economic operators. The project will also create a problem solving network of focal points from various trade support institutions that would use this tool to actively promote trade and investment (through an enquiry response facility) between the EU28 and neighbouring countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, State of Palestine and Tunisia. The project has funding available through the EC and it fits within the context of the EU’s long term strategic vision of a free trade area for the Euro-Med region, launched and pursued in the context of the Barcelona process and the Union for the Mediterranean framework.