The UfM’s mission is to enhance regional cooperation, dialogue and projects and initiatives that have a tangible impact on our citizens, with an emphasis on young people and women, in order to address the region’s three strategic objectives: stability, inclusive development and integration.
The UfM: an action-driven organisation with a common ambition
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is an intergovernmental organisation that brings together 43 countries to strengthen regional cooperation and dialogue through specific projects and initiatives that address inclusive and sustainable development, stability and integration in the Euro-Mediterranean area. As a direct continuation of the Barcelona Process, the launch of the UfM in 2008 was the reflection of its member states’ shared political commitment to enhance the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.
Since its inception, the UfM has undertaken a diverse range of projects and initiatives to promote inclusive regional sustainable development and integration. The organisation champions women’s rights, job creation, fosters cross-country connectivity efforts and addresses environmental and climate emergencies.
The UfM also prioritises grant schemes and programmes to encourage entrepreneurship and job opportunities for young people, recognising their crucial role in shaping the region’s future. The organisation is working on a unique instrument to accelerate investment in the blue economy and the creation of a regional civil protection instrument.
Embracing the cultural richness of the Euro-Mediterranean region, the UfM has launched initiatives, such as the Day of the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean Capitals of Culture & Dialogue, to celebrate diversity, promote dialogue, and cultivate mutual understanding.
The Mediterranean in action
The UfM works proactively to achieve greater levels of integration and cooperation in the region through a specific methodology that has yielded positive results in terms of political dialogue and the implementation of region-wide initiatives in which young people play a key role.
With more than 60 labelled projects and over 35 ministerial meetings, as well as expert for roundtables and conferences gathering 8000 stakeholders per year since 2012, UfM activities tackle the main strategic objectives of the region – regional integration, development and stability – by concentrating efforts on fostering inclusive and sustainable development.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of UfM Member States adopted a Roadmap for action at the second UfM Regional Forum in Barcelona in 2017 to strengthen regional cooperation and implement a positive agenda for the region, capitalising on its immense untapped potential, particularly its youth.
In November 2020, on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Barcelona Process, UfM Member States recognised the need to prioritise, in the years to come, five areas of action where the UfM can play a crucial role and provide for comparative advantages towards a sustainable post-pandemic recovery, paving the way for the creation of more resilient societies and economies in the region.
Starting in 2021, the UfM has focused its work on the following areas:
ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE ACTION
Special attention is given to promoting sustainable, green, low-carbon and circular resource-efficient economies as well as to reversing the dramatic loss of biodiversity in the Mediterranean region.
SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Fragmentation in the region has grown in the past years and the gap between the Northern and the Southern Mediterranean countries has widened. Efforts must be focused on the crucial challenges of employment, mainly for young people, as well as on the important issue of investment, in order to tackle this domain’s obstacles. Investing in the region’s human capital and vast natural resources is key to it reaching its full potential and increasing regional trade following the pandemic.
SOCIAL INCLUSIVENESS AND EQUALITY
Leaving no one behind and guaranteeing inclusive socio-economic development in the region continues to be a priority for UfM member states. Particular attention is given to narrowing the gender gap to ensure equal rights and opportunities, empowering young people, and creating more space for civil society.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
In a digital, global and hyper-connected world, integrating new technologies into businesses and education systems is no longer a matter of choice, but a necessity to keep up and adapt to innovation and competition. This tendency was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, which evidenced the digital access and use divide within the Euro-Mediterranean region. The UfM strives to use digitalisation to bolster a smart, innovative and sustainable economic development, which will facilitate trade and could become an essential tool to tackle youth unemployment.
CIVIL PROTECTION
Since the launch of the Barcelona Process, civil protection has been at the heart of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. With an increasing number of forest fires, floods, earthquakes, marine pollution, pandemics, and other catastrophes that are often attributed to climate change, civil protection collaboration among UfM member states enjoys high levels of political support. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the need to build stronger regional civil protection mechanisms and networks whose resource and knowledge sharing will benefit not only countries on a national level but rather the region as a whole.
The Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean is the operational platform of the UfM
The Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean, based in Barcelona is the first permanent structure dedicated to the intergovernmental Mediterranean partnership. It ensures operational follow-up of the regional priorities identified and in partnership with key international actors promotes region-wide cooperation projects and initiatives that address the root causes of the current regional security and socio-economic challenges.
Six Deputy Secretary Generals (DSGs) in charge of the following sectors: Three DSGs are appointed by EU countries and three by Southern and Eastern countries. UfM Sectors are Economic Development and Employment; Higher Education & Research; Social & Civil Affairs (Gender equality and youth); Water, Environment and Blue Economy; Transport & Urban Development and Energy & Climate Action.
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