100 civil society personalities present key development projects for the region

• Following the preparatory thematic fora held in various cities of the region in the run up to the Summit of the Two Shores, the Tunis forum brought together 100 civil society personalities from the 5+5 Dialogue countries.
• The event retained concrete project proposals and recommendations for practical cooperation that will be presented to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Western Mediterranean next 24 June in Marseille.
• The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) actively participated in the Forum by putting forward the views and project ideas of the youth and civil society from all the European Union and Mediterranean countries.

Tunis, 11-12 June 2019. 100 civil society representatives from the ten countries of the Western Mediterranean (also known as 5+5 Dialogue)[1] gathered in Tunis for a pre-Summit preparatory Forum entitled: “Towards a common space of intercultural dialogue; sustainable, inclusive production and development”. Each country had previously designated ten personalities from the civil society to participate in the event and form a united steering committee.

The objective of the Forum was to put forward the views, ideas and concrete project proposals selected by the “100 qualified personalities” with a view to presenting them to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Western Mediterranean on 24 June, 2019 in Marseille.

The Forum opened with a welcome note by Ouided Bouchamaoui, Nobel peace prize 2015, who stressed the importance of building a positive and inclusive narrative for the Mediterranean region. UfM Deputy Secretary General, Miguel García-Herraiz and UfM Higher Education and Research Advisor, Itaf Ben Abdallah, participated in the event with a view to presenting the recommendations and project proposals drawn from the exchanges held at the UfM Regional Dialogue on “Shared Views on Key Issues in the Mediterranean”, which took place on 22-23 May in Barcelona. The event brought together some 140 representatives of the civil society, youth organisations and non-state actors from the entire Euro-Mediterranean area to jointly propose recommendations and scenarios to strengthen cooperation on a wide range of key topics, notably on environment, water, energy, economic integration, women and youth empowerment as well as education (conclusions here).

UfM Deputy Secretary General García-Herraiz stressed the importance of “combining the dynamism of the Summit of the Two Shores with broader regional efforts in order to put forward the views of the future generations from the entire region”. He stressed the importance of “acting together to truly deliver on the commitment of tackling key regional challenges and amplifying the positive impact”.