From commitments to delivery: Mediterranean cooperation and resilience in a fragmented world
On 24 November 2026, the UfM, in collaboration with the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), will hold “From commitments to delivery: Mediterranean cooperation and resilience in a fragmented world”, a side-event of the 11th UfM Regional Forum. The event takes place in the Palau de Pedralbes in Barcelona.
More than 30 years after the Barcelona Process began and nearly two decades after the UfM was created, Mediterranean cooperation is entering a new phase. The UfM Vision Statement adopted in 2025 and the Pact for the Mediterranean reflect a growing sense that agreeing on priorities is only half the job. Plenty of initiatives and partnerships already exist, but fragmentation, gaps in implementation and a more complicated geopolitical picture keep limiting what they achieve together.
Closing gaps across Mediterranean cooperation frameworks
The first part looks at how cooperation is seen from both shores, based on IEMed’s Euromed Survey 16 results, which gathered the views of nearly 400 experts and practitioners across the region. Of those, 57.5% say there is no real shared ownership of development cooperation strategies in the region, with resources becoming less predictable. Results point to a gap that no single donor or bilateral framework can close alone, and where the UfM, as the only multilateral organisation in which the North and the South of the Mediterranean sit on an equal footing, has a distinctive role to play. A panel with voices from the UfM, the European Commission, financing partners and civil society will discuss what is stopping delivery, how to coordinate better and how to bring investors in earlier.
From commitments to delivery: Mediterranean cooperation and resilience in a fragmented world
The second part turns to resilience, where these gaps hit hardest. Extreme weather, wildfires, floods, energy disruptions and conflicts increasingly feed into one another, and a shock in one country or sector can quickly spread across borders. Countries face these risks with very different levels of resources and institutional capacity, and existing inequalities, including between women and men, can make the impact on communities even worse.
Speakers working on civil protection, climate adaptation and energy, ports and connectivity, and gender equality will share initiatives that already connect these areas, such as the UfM Civil Protection Action Plan and the Mediterranean Most Resilient Port Award. To close, each speaker will name one concrete priority for the UfM and its partners over the next five years, offering practical ideas for putting the Vision Statement and the Pact for the Mediterranean into practice.
