At the fourth Ministerial Conference on Employment and Labour in Portugal, the member states of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) gave a new impulse to social and economic integration in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The Ministers highlighted 4 priorities for action, stressed the need to measure the impact of policies and agreed to launch a “Community of Practice” to exchange best practices. This platform will be coordinated by the Secretariat of the UfM. Cascais, 2-3 April 2019. On 2 and 3 April, the 4th UfM Ministerial Conference on Employment and Labour was held under the title “Jobs, skills and opportunities for… read more
Cascais, 2 April 2019. In the margins of the UfM Ministerial Policy Conference “Jobs, Skills and Opportunities for All”, which took place in Cascais (Portugal), a side event dedicated to “Signing of SOLiD Charter for the Promotion of Social Dialogue in the Southern Mediterranean Neighbourhood” was held. During his intervention, the Secretary General of the UfM, Nasser Kamel recognized the Charter as a major output of the programme SOLiD-South Mediterranean Social Dialogue, which is already yielding tangible results in Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco. He emphasized that “the Charter clearly consolidates the culture of social dialogue between the social parties with… read more
Cascais, 2 April 2019. The Secretary General of the UfM, Nasser Kamel, met today with Cesare Onestini, the Director of the European Training Foundation (ETF) in the sidelines of the 4th UfM Ministerial Conference on Employment and Labour, hosted by Portugal. The two sides stressed the solid and long-standing cooperation within the different UfM platforms that include the UfM High Level Working Group (HLWG) on Employment and Labour, the UfM Experts Technical Meeting on Industrial Cooperation, the Med4Jobs Advisory Board, the UfM Conferences on Women Empowerment, and the Regional Dialogue process on “Higher Education Internationalization and Academic Mobility in the… read more
Cascais, 2 April 2019. A UfM Ministerial Policy Conference titled “Job, Skills and Opportunities for All”, took place on 2 April in Cascais (Portugal) as part of the 4th UfM Ministerial Conference on Employment and Labour. The Conference provided the opportunity to discuss the most pressing labour market’s needs, in particular the persistent inequality in the access to jobs mostly for women and young people. The World Economic Forum’s Human Capital Index indicates that the MENA region currently captures only 62% of its full human capital potential, which translates to a great margin for improvement if the bottlenecks of informality,… read more
Meeting of the Secretary General of the UfM and the Executive President of the Agadir Technical Unit
Barcelona, 18 March 2019. The Secretary General of the UfM, Nasser Kamel, met today with Fakhry Alhazaimeh, the Executive President of the Agadir Technical Unit (ATU) responsible for the Trade Technical issues related to the Arab Mediterranean Free Trade Agreement (Agadir Agreement). The UfM Secretary General Kamel highlighted the importance and the opportunities of trade liberalization between the Mediterranean partners. He encouraged to continue the positive efforts among the members of the Agadir Agreement in terms of south-south and south-north trade integration, which also lead to the political decision to enlarge the membership of the Agreement to two additional members,… read more
Around 2 billion people around the globe work informally, most of them in emerging and developing countries, including a 68.8% in the Arab World. The absolute majority of these workers do not enjoy social protection, rights at work or decent working conditions, which seriously hampers the sustainable and inclusive development efforts on the ground. Most people end up in the informal economy not out of choice, but out of need in the absence of any other viable and decent alternative that would protect their rights in a properly-functioning labour market. The UfM Secretariat joins the regional and global efforts aiming… read more
The Action Plan on UfM Cooperation on fight against Piracy and Counterfeiting is one of the important deliverables of the UfM Ministerial Conference on Trade, held last year in Brussels Intellectual Property-intensive sectors account for 42% of the European Union’s Gross Domestic Product, worth €5.7 trillion and generates 38% of all jobs About 5% of all good imported into the European Union are counterfeit or pirated, which is equivalent to €85 billion in illegal trade The UfM Secretariat is actively engaged in promoting trade in the UfM Region, given the very low economic integration levels, specially amongst the southern Mediterranean… read more
Within the framework of the Third UfM Regional Forum which marked the 10th Anniversary of the Paris Declaration that gave birth to the Union for the Mediterranean, the UfM Secretariat celebrated the first Stakeholders’ Dialogue for its flagship initiative Med4Jobs on 8 October 2018 with the aim of taking stock of the progress achieved and the lessons learned…. read more
Representing nearly 60% of the total population, young people constitute one of the greatest assets for stability and development in the Euro-Mediterranean region The UfM will co-organize the Youth Forum, on the margins of the 4th Edition of the UfM high-level Women Conference” in October 2018 12 August 2018. The UfM embraces the celebration of International Youth Day under the theme “Safe Spaces for Youth” to underline the urgent need to create spaces that allow them to share ideas on their projects, and participate in decision making processes. Back to back with the 4th Edition of the UfM high-level Women Conference… read more
The UfM Business Platform, conceived as a dynamic network of private sector entities, governments and experts from across the Euro-Mediterranean region, aims to contribute to regional integration through facilitating trade and investments and to the development of Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) by building synergies and partnerships, promoting policy dialogue and the exchange of best practices as well as fostering corporate responsibility. Istanbul, 29 June 2018. Key decision-makers coordinating cooperation for development from over 40 countries of the Arab States, Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States regions (CIS), gathered at the 4th Regional Networking Forum on South-South and Triangular… read more
