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THE EUROPEAN UNION AND EGYPT WORK
TOGETHER
TO BOOST EGYPTIAN COMPETITIVENESS
The European Union and the Egyptian authorities will
launch on Wednesday 13th December the first
stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the implementation of
the Euro-Mediterranean Charter for enterprises. The
Charter is a common framework of policies and measures
agreed between the EU and its Mediterranean partners to
facilitate and promote industrial modernisation and
competitiveness. The launching event will take place at
the Cairo Sheraton Hotel.
The purpose of the first Egyptian stakeholders’ meeting,
which will be an annual event, is to define the specific
priorities that Egypt is willing to commit to under the
Charter and to agree on concrete performance indicators
to assess progress. The meeting will gather a selected
group of representatives from various ministries and
public agencies, from the business community, academia,
think tanks and international organisations. The
European Union will directly assist Egypt in the
implementation of Charter, including through its
existing and future cooperation programmes. The European
Commission will also promote transparent dialogue,
networking and benchmarking between Egypt and its other
Mediterranean partners.
Egypt is the first country in the Mediterranean region
that has agreed to organise a stakeholders’ meeting,
showing leadership in kick-starting the process of
implementation of the Charter. This is a rapid and
direct follow-up of the commitments made at the 6th
Conference of Euro-Mediterranean Industry Ministers that
took place in Greece in September 2006. Egypt was
represented at that Conference by H.E. Eng. Rachid
Mohamed Rashid, Minister of Trade and Industry, who
confirmed the importance of using the EU partnership in
order to boost competitiveness and attract European
investment.
The Charter provides a comprehensive framework of key
areas of importance for competitiveness. It covers
priorities such as: enhancing market access for
companies, upgrading of skills for employees, developing
entrepreneurship, supporting innovation, regulatory
simplification, etc. The purpose of the Charter is to
offer Mediterranean Partners a blueprint for reform
together with guidance to upgrade enterprise performance
and enhance the business environment, similar to the
process that the EU implemented with its candidate
countries. The extension of the Charter process to the
Mediterranean countries is clear evidence of the close
partnership between the EU and the Mediterranean
countries under the European Neighbourhood Policy.
ENDS
Contact: Germaine Demian
Press and Information Officer
Delegation of the European Commission in Egypt
Tel:3749 46 80
germaine.demian@cec.eu.int |
