7th Regional Platform on Trade and Investment in the Mediterranean held in Barcelona
15 May 2024, Barcelona, Spain. – The 7th meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean’s Regional Platform on Trade and Investment was held at its headquarters in Barcelona. The event gathered senior trade officials from across the region along with various international organisations involved in European Union-funded cooperation projects.
The meeting was inaugurated with speeches from Ms. Mercedes Bonet, Deputy Head of Unit at the European Commission, and Ms. Wafa Jiris, Director at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply of Jordan, who co-chaired the session. Mr. Abdelkader El Khissassi, Deputy Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, also delivered remarks.
Key regional initiatives were presented, focusing on three main areas: regional integration, sustainable trade, and sustainable investment.
For regional integration, the European Commission’s department for tax and customs policy (DG TAXUD) shared updates on the revised Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention, set to be implemented on 1 January 2025. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) presented the work undertaken in view of a second edition of the “Progress Report on Regional Integration in the Union for the Mediterranean”.
In terms of sustainable trade and investment, the European Commission’s neighbourhood policy department (DG NEAR) provided an overview of forthcoming activities aimed at boosting e-commerce and digital trade, as well as promoting environmentally friendly and resource-efficient economies in the southern Mediterranean. The OECD discussed a study on creating more sustainable investment frameworks by comparing international standards with national laws in selected southern Mediterranean countries. Results of support for investment climate reforms in the southern Mediterranean were also shared, with a particular focus on Jordan. The International Trade Centre (ITC) highlighted the achievements of the Mediterranean Trade and Investment Facilitation Mechanism II, which aims to remove trade barriers in the region. The International Labor Organization (ILO) introduced a project that integrates employment considerations into trade and investment policies.
The next meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean’s Platform on Trade and Investment is scheduled for the latter half of the year.
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