Building Trust can Take the Form of Investment. Some ideas to add to faster growth and integration in the Maghreb

Notes internacionals CIDOB, núm. 20

What role might North African countries play in a world where thebalance of economic and political power has, over the past decade, shifted in a manner which few in the west had envisaged and many still refuse to acknowledge? Because this shift is forcing Europe and North America to take account of the views of countries which simply did not matter,economically speaking a generation ago, the process is a painful one. Some in Europe have chosen to bury their heads in the sand and continue to put forward arguments which make little sense in 2010, other are fearful of the loss as they see it of three centuries of supremacy of westerneconomic interests.

If Western Mediterranean countries on both shores are able to take an unsentimental approach, new industries and many new jobs could be created which would add value to production in North Africa while European technology could be seriously transferred to North Africa. Such changes would in turn build competitiveness into the region’s industry and insert the Maghreb into the new added value chain emerging across the globe, which is tilting so decisively towards Asia.

The Process of Barcelona, launched in 1995, has run its course but it is far from obvious that the Union for the Mediterranean, launched in 2008, will deliver on its ambitious projects.

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