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Brussels, 17 November 2015 The UfM Ministerial Conference on Blue Economy aims at strengthening the potential of the blue economy in the Mediterranean region, as well as improving maritime governance and achieving a conducive environment to promote jobs, innovation and knowledge-based business opportunities through the development of key maritime sectors. This regional effort is key in the wider contextRead more
SAVE THE DATE! – SwitchMed Connect will take place on 29-30 October in Barcelona SwitchMed Connect, the first annual gathering of Mediterranean stakeholders to build synergies, exchange knowledge and scale up eco and social innovations, will take place from 29 to 30 October 2015 at the Centre Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona (CCCB) in Barcelona, Spain. More thanRead more
The UfM, in partnership with the EU and other regional actors, is supporting
“SwitchMed Connect”, an event of the SwitchMed Programme, to be held on 29-30 October in Barcelona, gathering, for the first time, more than 350 stake holders from Mediterranean countries to build synergies, exchange knowledge, and scale up eco and social innovative solutions.
• The projects will directly benefit the development of sustainable urban areas in nine countries on the southern and eastern shores.
• According to the European Investment Bank, urban infrastructure in the region will require an investment of €60 billion in the next 20 years.
• The Union for the Mediterranean fosters social and urban infrastructure initiatives with a regional scope to raise strategic investments amongst the stakeholders in the region (governments, multilateral organisations and promoters).
UfM Secretariat Headquarters in Barcelona, 10 June 2015 The Third Meeting of the UPFI Project Committee will gather all the Urban Project Finance Initiative (UPFI) partners, namely, the UfM Secretariat, the European Commission, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the German KFW, the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC), the as wellRead more
Barcelona, 9 June 2015 The Urban Project Finance Initiative (UPFI) is one of the pillars of the Euro-Mediterranean Sustainable Urban Development Strategy, as stated in the declaration of the First Ministerial Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) on sustainable urban development held in Strasbourg on 10 November 2011. It was launched during theRead more
The UfM’s Urban Projects Finance Initiative (UPFI) Workshop brings all relevant stakeholders and promoters involved in the initiative together for the first time, marking the start of its second phase.
Laila Iskandar, the Minister of State for Urban Renewal and Informal Areas of Egypt; Anis Ghdira, the Secretary of State for Housing of the Government of Tunisia; and Mohammed Jalayta, the Mayor of Jericho (Palestine), are attending the workshop, along with high-level representatives from international financial institutions and 60 participants from six countries involved in 15 UPFI projects.
The Conference, hosted by the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region and officially opened by the President of the French Republic Mr François Hollande, is being held in preparation for the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which will take place in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015 (COP21/CMP11).
• Blue economy offers enormous potential for job creation and investment in the Mediterranean, particularly in terms of sustainable development, clustering and networking of education and training organisations, increased research and innovation capacity, skills development and access to finance.
• This potential can only be tapped through joint efforts and close cooperation between all littoral States.
