Publication of the General Call for Expressions of Interest in MENA for Market Intelligence Mapping of EU Private sector engagement in North Africa and the Middle East

1. Purpose of the Call

The European Commission (EC) recognises the private sector as a vital driver of socio-economic development and sustainable growth. As part of our objectives under the Global Gateway strategy, we aim to foster dynamic collaboration with European private companies in alignment with EU policy priorities and strategic areas of interest.

DG MENA is the department in charge of managing the European Commission’s strategic relations with countries in the North Africa, Middle-East and Gulf region, as outlined in the recently adopted Pact for the Mediterranean. 

In this context, this call for expressions of interest is being launched in order to better identify the economic interest of the European private sector to trade and invest with these countries in the sectors covered in the Pact.

The call aims at gathering market intelligence and identifying potential areas for future support and collaboration, but there is no associated selection process or funding attached to it. Therefore, participation in this call does not constitute any form of partnership, joint venture or other legal relationship between the proposer and the EC. Equally, the publication of this call for expressions of interest does not commit the EC to implement any potential action or project proposal arising from the call.

All information submitted as part of the call will be treated confidentially and used solely for the purpose of internally assessing the potential needs and interests of the European private sector in developing economic and investments relationships with the countries falling under the geographical scope of DG MENA.

This market intelligence mapping represents a first step in building an assessment of the main interests, opportunities, sectoral trends, and necessary enabling business and investment reforms in North Africa and the Middle East to increase EU private sector engagement and investments, and for better mobilising EU support to achieve this.

What DG MENA will use the call for:

The information submitted by companies will also allow DG MENA to:

• Map the degree and category of interest from the EU private sector in MENA countries, as well as the challenges and constraints faced.
• Advance enabling reforms through regular policy dialogue with partner countries, and to better define the approach to strategic procurement under EU programmes and with International Financing Institutions.
• Serve as a basis for dialogue between DG MENA and the EU private sector in future consultations. Applicants would be included in a communication list which could be used for this purpose.
• Identify support needs from the EU private sector which can help shape future assistance programmes.
• While the main objective of the call is to gather market intelligence, it will also serve as a one-stop communication entry point for the EU private sector and DG MENA.
• Potentially identify actions where DG MENA could play a role in supporting, provided they are fully in line with EU priorities and there are relevant instruments available.

The call is not:

• a direct financing vehicle or competitive call for proposals with associated financing. While indirect support may eventually be received in certain cases, this will not be the objective of the call.
• a trade financing mechanism. While companies are invited to share their interest in trade-related and commercial activities in the MENA region, and the challenges faced, this call will not provide trade-related assistance. EU companies interested in this type of information should contact their respective national trade-support institutions. More information on these is available in the Global Gateway in the Mediterranean website.

2. Categories of interest

Participants are requested to categorise the nature of their interest according to the following classification and encouraged to be concrete. For simplification purposes, only one option is allowed, but participants can elaborate on their expressions of interest in the text field of the call, and no explicit prioritisation is given to the different categories.

1. Specific investment or project proposal seeking additional funding sources.
2. Specific investment or project proposal seeking non-financial support (i.e: technical assistance, or institutional support to a specific initiative).
3. EU company participating in a non-EU financed procurement tender.
4. General interest in increasing private sector activities in the MENA region, and not captured under the other categories.

Important: None of these categories will result in a direct financial support of the proposals by the Commission. However, where relevant and if in line with EU policy priorities, the Commission will seek to connect submissions with existing support programmes.

3. Priority sectors

The priority areas targeted by this call are based on the strategic priorities of the Pact of the Mediterranean and the Global Gateway’s key areas of partnership. They are fully aligned with the UN’s Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the Paris Agreement, including:

• Digital sector: including integration into the global digital ecosystem, digital transformation to drive sustainable development and strengthen social and economic benefits, a stable and secure cybersecurity grounded in democratic values.
• Climate and energy: including investments that foster water and waste-water management, clean energy, notably green technology exchanges that reinforces energy security, inter-connection with the EU and the region.
• Transport: including infrastructure investments that create sustainable, smart, resilient, inclusive and safe networks in all modes of transport – like the integration of the African and European multimodal transport networks and secure EU- North Africa transport corridors.
• Health: including investments to strengthen healthcare capacities, including the security of pharmaceutical supply chains and the development of local manufacturing, and in infrastructure and the regulatory environment for the local production of medicine and medical technologies.
• Education and Research: including investments to foster quality education, paying attention to the inclusion of vulnerable groups, including digital education and to strengthen cooperation on research and innovation.
• Other: other sectors not listed above, for example; agri-business, logistics, waste management, critical raw materials, construction, etc.

4. Eligibility criteria to submit Expressions of Interest

To ensure a structured and transparent market intelligence mapping assessment, the following criteria will be used for screening interests expressed by applicants:

• Geographic Area: North Africa and the Middle East: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine¹. EU companies with a specific interest in playing a role in the future reconstruction of Gaza can be expressed under the Palestine country tab.
• Nationality of Applicant: Eligible participants shall be private enterprises, joint ventures or consortium of companies based in the EU/EEA, possessing a valid VAT registration number. If referring to a concrete project or investment conducted by a consortium, the consortium leader must be based in the EU or EEA.
• Alignment with the Pact for the Mediterranean and Global Gateway’s key areas of partnership.
• EU interest: the applicant must explain the benefit to the EU of their interest in pursuing actions in the MENA region and justify any request for support on the basis of this benefit.

5. Submission of information

All information under this call should be submitted electronically through the EU Survey tool. The information requested will include the following sections:

• Company information: including contact details; VAT number; EU Transparency Register Number²; company registry information and country of origin.
• Nature of the proposal: information related to the categories outlined in section 2 of this note.
• Details of the proposal: if the expressed interest is a potential project or investment proposal, or a request for technical or institutional support, please describe all relevant financial and operational information. If the interest is related to more general purposes (i.e.: trade matters, participation in non-EU funded tenders, expansion plans in the future, concerns over specific regulations or legal frameworks, etc.) please provide succinct information on what the expected actions would be.
• Enabling measures: where relevant, information on the current impediments (e.g: legal, financial, operational...) to engaging in economic development and investment activities in the target MENA country(ies). This information will help to identify what enabling measures could facilitate your current or future engagement. Information submitted should cover key areas of the constraints faced, including on financial and capital market limitations; currency challenges; procurement considerations; existing technical and non-technical barriers; security concerns and sanction regimes; regulatory and legislative frameworks; issues related to investor protection, rule of law, or corruption concerns, etc.
• Expected impact: expected positive impact of proposed interest in the target country or region (i.e: potential job creation; joint partnership, etc.).
• If additional information is needed, participants may be invited to submit additional supporting information only to the following address:  MENA-PRIVATE-SECTORec [dot] europa [dot] eu (MENA-PRIVATE-SECTOR[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
    

All correspondence related to this call for expressions of interest and intelligence mapping between must be written in English.

6. Timeline

This General Call for Expressions of Interest and Market Intelligence Mapping will be open from 17 December 2025 and have no established closing date.