The Initiative for Micro-, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Mediterranean

Abstract

This paper discusses the process of establishing the Mederranean Business Development Initiative (MBDI), in its various phases and components. The aim is to discover to what extent the implementation of this complex international project has thus far been in accord with the pattern for adopting public policies and structural change modeled by Kingdon (2002) for the U.S. system.            The concept of an initiative to facilitate enterprises’ access to finance in the Mediterranean countries can be traced back to the 1990s, when the idea of creating a development bank for the Mediterranean was proposed. However, this proposal was abandoned for political reasons related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and also due to a lack of interest in establishing a new development bank.