29 and 30 September 2021: The UfM Practical Educational Workshop on ´´e-governance´´ in Palestine was organized digitally on 29 and 30 September, in collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ, and the Estonian ICT Cluster, as a tangible initiative towards strengthening UfM-Palestine cooperation ties. This Workshop is the second in a series of UfM e-governance Workshops intended for the interested Southern Mediterranean Countries as follow-up to the conclusions of the UfM Conference on ´´Digital Transformation and Digital Skills for the Future´´ held in Tallinn (Estonian Capital), exactly two years ago, on 30 September 2019. Bringing together participants form various… read more
The UfM Regional Platform on Industrial Cooperation convened on 20th September 2021, bringing together, in addition to the EU and Jordanian UfM Co-presidencies as well as the UfM Secretariat, representatives of Embassies, SBA coordinators and Senior Officials in charge of industrial cooperation from the UfM Member States. In their opening remarks, Ms Outi SLOTBOOM, Director for Strategy and conomic Analysis, DG GROW, and Mr Zaher AL-QATARNEH, Deputy Secretary General for Technical Affairs and Director for the Foreign Trade Policy, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, of Jordan, highlighted the negative effects of the pandemic crisis on the economic level, thus… read more
The 2021 Creative Forum, hosted by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU and organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, in collaboration with the UfM, took place from 12th until 15th of September in Ljubljana. Under the slogan Future Unlocked, the event gathered creative entrepreneurs and policymakers of the Euro-Mediterranean region to highlight the unique contribution of cultural and creative sectors to peace and stability. Ljubljana, 12-15 September 2021. The third edition of Creative Forum, which constitutes a unique High-level event fully dedicated to the promotion of Creative economy in the Mediterranean region, took place… read more
The UfM Secretariat, with the support of the German Development Cooperation, fulfills the call of the UfM Trade Ministers on their 11th Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Trade Ministers Conference of 10 November 2020 on the organization of trainings and technical assistance for ministries, customs authorities and businesses on the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention of Rules of Origin, in order to enhance the capacities of those actors and thereby increase the benefits of the respective trade agreements.” 29 July 2021. The UfM Secretariat, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Egypt and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)… read more
14 July 2021. The Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) convened by videoconference in a meeting of the UfM Regional Platform on Trade and Investment (formerly known as the UfM Trade Senior Officials Meeting), chaired by teh UfM Co-Presidency of the European Commission and Jordan. The meeting followed up on the 11th UfM Trade Ministers Conference held in November 2020, and agreed a Work Programme for the coming period focused around three main pillars: Sustainable Trade: participants reviewed the EU Trade Policy Review, the main findings of a study for an ex-post evaluation of the trade… read more
The UfM promotes social dialogue between representatives of employers, workers and governments as a prerequisite to meaningful post-pandemic recovery in the region. With the economic difficulties facing private sector worldwide, and the slowing of employment and labour progress caused by the pandemic, there is a risk of neglecting such social dialogues in the short term. Enhancing the skills of the workforce must be a critical part of effective dialogue between all parties involved. Barcelona, 8 July 2021. The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) today held a conference on “Social Dialogue with Social Partners” together with BUSINESSMED, the European Training Foundation… read more
30 June 2021, Barcelona. The Conference of the Governors of Mediterranean Central Banks took place online on 28 June 2021. Organised by the Banco de España, the Central Bank of Tunisia, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), the conference tackled the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis across the Euro-Mediterranean area and a sustainable, inclusive, green and digital development agenda. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments across the Mediterranean to take severe measures to curtail socioeconomic activities, which has caused a substantial economic slowdown in many countries of the region. In… read more
25 June. A virtual conference was held this week to showcase pathways for supporting Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and achieving a sustainable economic recovery. The Conference brought together policy-makers (from ministries, central banks, regulators and the European Commission), as well as academics working on this subject, MSME finance advocates, and diverse market participants covering the whole eco-system (banks, microfinance institutions, investment funds, incubators, accelerators, fin-techs, leasing companies, credit guarantee companies, business angels, crowdfunding platforms, and development cooperation frameworks) and international financial institutions active in the region. There were also speakers and panelists representing institutions… read more
Trade accounts for 35% of GDP in the Mediterranean region, and the intra-regional trade market is one of the most important in the world. Today, the first edition of the UfM Progress Report on Regional Integration, commissioned by the UfM, and prepared by the OECD, was presented in an online event along with policy recommendations and an insight on best practice in regional integration from around the world. The report takes stock of the progress that has been made, and highlights two important challenges that still stand: inadequate infrastructure for transport and energy connectivity, and a lack of common vision… read more
The Med4Jobs Advisory Board Meeting 2021 brought together prominent stakeholders to take stock of the state-of-play of employment-related challenges and the efforts undertaken towards a sustainable and inclusive socio-economic recovery. The Mediterranean Initiative for Jobs (Med4Jobs) is a major building block of the UfM response to the unemployment challenge in the region. With over 100,000 beneficiaries, mostly young people and women in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, it gathers best practices and success stories from the region. 25 March 2021. The UfM organized the seventh Med4Jobs Advisory Board Meeting in an online format, with the aim of discussing a broad… read more
