Textile and Clothing (T&C) is a major economical sector in the Mediterranean area. This mostly SME-based industry accounts for a significant share of value added, employment and export revenue for many regions in this area. According to a study presented at the headquarters of the textile industry confederation (Texfor) in Sabadell, in the Barcelona province. The textile sector of the Mediterranean area should set up a 'hyper-cluster' to compete with large regions like China.

As this sector has undergone a series of radical transformations due to a number of factors, including increasing production costs, tighter environmental constraints and the onset of strong international competition over the last few years.

The document recommends developing eight clusters in the Mediterranean area: Catalonia (Sabadell), Prato (Tuscany), Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Greece, Tunis and Jordan, all partners of the EU-funded TEX-MED Clusters project of textile and clothing enterprises in the Mediterranean area.

The latter will take part in a conference addressing companies, institutional bodies and service centers on the issue 'Cluster Cross-border Cooperation' on December 19 in Barcelona, as part of the CAT(Carrefour de Affaires et de Technologies) Fair, one of the largest on innovation in the southern part of the Mediterranean.

The study aims to ''improve relations within the textile sector to unite efforts and establish synergies, making it possible to improve global competition, stated chief Francesco Pellizzari.

Some 14 countries are taking part in the two-year, two-million euro TEX-MED project: Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Syria and Tunisia.

TEXMEDIN, standing for Textile and apparel EuroMEDiterranean heritage for Innovation, is a transnational project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation objective by the MED Programme.

Overall objective of TEXMEDIN is to create a transnational cluster to increase the competitiveness of the partners' territories in Textile and Clothing sector by fostering the focus on quality, design and innovation.