DG Enterprise and Industry The Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue on the Textiles and Clothing Industry Jean-François Aguinaga Head of Unit Textiles, Fashion and Forest-based Industries Working Party on Euro-Mediterranean Industrial Cooperation Brussels, November 2011 European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry

DG Enterprise and Industry 2 Textiles & clothing in the EU About firms (2008), mainly SMEs with around 10 employees More than 2m jobs in 2010, but -50% during ’00s Turnover: above € 200 billion 3% of manufacturing value added Regionally concentrated Restructuring, focus on value added, sub-contracting

DG Enterprise and Industry 3 Textiles & clothing in Med Medium to large firms, public sector involvement Significant production –Turkey and Morocco among world’s top15 producers in clothing –Tunisia 40% of manufacturing –Some production of cotton (Turkey, Syria, Egypt) Impact on employment –30% (Syria) to 50% (Morocco) of employment –Egypt 25% in manufacturing –1m employees in Turkey –mainly female employment in clothing (Jordan 52%, Egypt 83%) Economic importance –3% of GDP in Egypt –Double-digit % of value added (Morocco 13%, Jordan 10%) Trade: Import textiles, export clothing

DG Enterprise and Industry 4 Trade links Dominated by T&C, second commodity after oil EU has negative trade balance in T&C with MED particularly in clothing 16,8% of the EU’s imports from MED are T&C 20,5% of all EU T&C imports come from MED For MED the EU is main trading partner for T&C T&C represents one of the main export goods for MED, although dependency is declining Little intra-MED trade Bilateral trade: Morocco-Spain, Tunisia-Italy…

DG Enterprise and Industry 5 Production links Reasons –Geographical and cultural proximity –Lower labour costs in MED –Use of Arabic version of high-tech and ICT –Quick response to supplementary orders for fast fashion: in 10 days possible, just-in-time Forms –Sub- and co-contracting –Outsourcing and outward-processing –Relocation Results –Substantial foreign investment –Whole villages producing for famous European retailers

DG Enterprise and Industry 6 Objectives of the sectoral dialogue Sharing of good practices among stakeholders Discussing challenges, future directions and concrete actions Linking with dimensions of the Euro-Med Charter for Enterprise: –Education and training for entrepreneurship –Improved skills –Innovative companies –Strengthening Euro-Mediterranean networks and partnerships

DG Enterprise and Industry 7 Milan, March 2012 Conference on challenges and opportunities for the textiles and clothing sector –Participants = Southern Neighbourhood countries + Turkey – Syria + interested Europeans –Speakers from private, public and academic sector –Sessions on: 1.Challenges within the economic context 2.Opportunities for research and innovation cooperation 3.Opportunities for international cooperation between SMEs 4.Opportunities for capacity building and skills development 5.Funding opportunities for industrial activity and cooperation

DG Enterprise and Industry 8 More information Website se/sectors/textiles/external- dimension/euro- mediterranean- region/index_en.htm Contact: ENTR-textile- fashion-forest-