The International Finance Corporation (IFC) last week announced it was joining the strategic Partnership in favour of the South of the Mediterranean basin with the objective of “establishing a favourable climate for the private sector in the Middle East and the countries of North Africa”. The World Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission are already members of the Partnership. The initiative forms part of the strategy that the EIB has been pursuing since 2002 with the FEMIP instrument dedicated to the Euromed zone to stimulate private investments in the Mediterranean countries that are partners of the European Union: during the period 2002/2006 FEMIP has granted loans worth over 6 billion euros, almost a third of them allocated to the private sector. For 2006 alone the SFI has contributed to the financing of 284 investment projects in 66 developing countries for a total of 8.3 billion dollars. The four multilateral institutions have pledged to pool their skills, know how and training programmes in the sectors of innovation, new technologies and urban development.
