Zagreb hosts the 16th Meeting of the UfM Regional Platform on Employment and Labour
- Ahead of the 2025 UfM Ministerial on Employment and Labour, representatives of the UfM Member States and Social Partners convened in Zagreb to discuss the state-of-play of implementation of the 2022 Marrakech Declaration and to exchange best practices on Youth Employment and Women Economic Empowerment.
- The UfM Region faces several employment-related challenges in the aftermath of major socio-economic and geopolitical disruptions, but there are many reasons for optimism in a region where numerous best practices and success stories from both shores can be showcased, scaled up, and replicated.
Zagreb, 16-17 April 2024. Within the framework of the UfM Roadmap 2022-2025 implementing the Declaration of the 5th UfM Ministerial on Employment and Labour (Marrakech, 2022), the 16th meeting of the UfM Regional Platform on Employment and Labour was held in Zagreb, Croatia over two successive days.
The discussions focused on Youth Employment and Women Economic Empowerment through presentations and exchanges involving the sectoral focal points of the UfM Member States and a broad spectrum of stakeholders that included regional and international organisations, social partners, and NGOs.
During the meeting, Mr. Ivan Vidiš, State Secretary (Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy of Croatia) took stock of the economic reforms introduced in Croatia, which have already yielded tangible results visible in the labour market. The participants were also introduced to the priorities of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The participants were briefed on the developments of the Community of Practice on Monitoring, which currently has 12 volunteering UfM Member States, as well as the progress made by the UfM Community of Practice on Youth Employment in the Southern Mediterranean, whose next physical meeting is scheduled for 16-17 December 2024 in Aswan, Egypt. They were also informed about key upcoming UfM activities, namely the UfM Youth Forum, UfM-ETF Future of Work Workshop, and the 4th UfM Med4Jobs Stakeholders Dialogue.
The meeting included field visits to a Career Information and Counseling Center (CISOK) and the Algebra University College in Zagreb, as well as presentations by DG NEAR and ILO. Perspectives from 3 UfM Member States (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, and Morocco) as well as from the Social Partners were shared with the participants to identify best practices and build meaningful complementarities. For this edition, the Greek Non-Profit Organisation, Women Do Business, was invited to present its work on female entrepreneurship.
Twice a year, the UfM Regional Platform on Employment and Labour brings together representatives from employment and labour ministries and agencies of the UfM Member States as well as representatives from European institutions/agencies and international organisations to discuss the current realities and follow up on the implementation of relevant Ministerial declarations, as well as preparing for future UfM Ministerials on Employment and Labour.
The UfM Member States agreed to hold the 17th meeting of the UfM Regional Platform on Employment and Labour in Rome, Italy, during the last quarter of 2024.
