COPEAM 30th anniversary: a dialogue on common goals‎

• The UfM Secretariat attended for the third time the Annual Conference of COPEAM in April 2023. This year represented a milestone for the organization as it celebrated its 30th anniversary.
• The event allowed the UfM to enhance its collaboration with COPEAM on awareness-raising media campaigns and initiatives. Secretary General Nasser Kamel offered a historical contextualization of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and announced the launch of the new initiative: “Mediterranean Capitals of Culture and Dialogue”.

26-27 April 2023, Montpellier – During the opening ceremony of the 30th Annual Conference of COPEAM entitled “Digital cultures and new audiovisual languages”, UfM Secretary General Nasser Kamel addressed the organization’s network of journalists. He provided an overview of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation since the launch of the Barcelona Process and detailed the role and work methodology of the Union for the Mediterranean.

The unwinding of such an event was also the occasion for UfM Secretary General to announce the beginning of a new project, that of the “Mediterranean Capitals of Culture and Dialogue”. Indeed, COPEAM is a non-profit association devoted to the promotion of intercultural dialogue and regional cooperation in the Mediterranean region through the involvement of private, public and institutional players of the audiovisual and media sector. It was founded in Cairo in 1996, and includes about 60 organizations from 26 European, Balkans, North-African and Middle Eastern countries, among which 35 public radio and TV broadcasters. COPEAM activities revolve around 7 working commissions: Audiovisual heritage; Cinema, Festival and Culture; Gender Equality and Diversity; Training; News Exchange; Radio and TV.

During the annual gathering, UfM Secretary General was interviewed by journalists from RTCI (Tunisia), Radio Liban (Lebanon), RNE (Spain), Chaine Inter (Morocco) and France Bleu (France) for the radio program Kantara.

On the margins of the Conference, UfM Secretary General and UfM Head of Communications, Ms. Isabel Pardillos, had the opportunity to converse with members of Montpellier’s City Council, ASBU, RAI, Télévision Tunisienne, RNE, RTCI and Chaine Inter Maroc. As for the near future, the UfM Secretariat is contemplating ways to further their collaboration with COPEAM and its partners in order to raise awareness on the initiatives of the Day of the Mediterranean and Mediterranean Capitals of Culture and Dialogue.