THE European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA), headed by its President, Patrick Lepercq has participated in the meeting of the High Level Group of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials held in Brussels.
The EIP aims to reduce the EU’s dependency on imported raw materials by bringing Europe to lead in raw materials exploration, extraction, processing, recycling and substitution by 2020, as well as identify strengths and weaknesses of the region’s research and innovation system.
Lepercq presented an overview of ETRMA’s priorities and stated that “the European tyre industry expects the EIP to encourage transparency, diversification of supply and capacity building of natural rubber to limit the current market distortions”.
The meeting is under the initiative of Vice President Tajani (in charge of Industry), Commissioner Poto?nik (in charge of Environment) and Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn (in charge of Research and Innovation) as well as Ministers and also participated by the European Investment Bank, research organisations and industry CEOs
For ETRMA, in lieu of EIP, it calls for the development of partnerships for foreign direct investment in both private and public; introduction of counter measures against raw material export restrictions in FTA and other trade agreement negotiations, as well as address sustainable access to raw materials through political bilateral discussions; promotion of fora participated by consuming and producing countries.
Moreover, ETRMA has appealed for recommendations of the Strategic Plan that will be delivered in the summer to be translated into an immediate action plan.
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