The Joint Monitoring Committee, decision-making body of the ENI CBC Med Programme, has approved 11 projects under the call for capitalisation projects out of the 69 proposals submitted. The selected projects, worth €11.5 million (of which €10.4 million as EU contribution), gather 76 organizations from both sides of the Mediterranean Sea.

More than half of the approved projects, have ASCAME members as leaders, partners and/or associate partners, representing dozens of Chambers of Commerce and other similar entities. Therefore, ASCAME is pleased to congratulate its members who have once again shown their involvement and willingness to continue their work in the service of economic development and recovery of the Mediterranean region.

In line with the current activity of ASCAME, the ambitions of the call for capitalisation projects is to contribute to the recovery processes in the Mediterranean area, amid the crisis of the COVID-19 and its negative socio-economic effects. With this objective, ASCAMEs members will fine tune intervention models which have the potential to support:

Job and business creation through business and SMEs development (start-ups; economic clusters; sustainable tourism);

Transition to carbon-neutral economies (water efficiency; waste management; energy efficiency; integrated coastal zone management);

Technology transfer and innovation (commercialisation of research results; SMEs access to research and innovation);

Social inclusion and fight against poverty (professionalization of Not in Employment, Education or Training and women; social and solidarity economy).

ASCAME benefiiaries will soon start the process towards the signing of the grant contract with the Managing Authority, allowing starting the implementation of the planned activities in the coming months.