News

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

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

4 may 2018, Rabat. New developments in the advancement of the scaling-up strategy of the UfM labelled project “HOMERe” were achieved at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morroco, on 4 May 2018, during a Euro-Mediterranean event on “International internships as a tool for youth employability in the Mediterranean” which celebrated ten years of cooperation between French and Moroccan universities and companies in this respect. Several alumni received at that occasion the certificate recognising that they successfully performed a quality internship in the Mediterranean region in the HOMERe framework. Saïd Bhira, Special Counsellor to the UfM Secretary General for Higher Education and Research, affirmed that… read more

Ljubljana, 11th April, 2018. Ljubljana has hosted the Creative Forum Ljubljana, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in collaboration with the Union for the Mediterranean. The conference was focused on the role of the creative sector in modern society, with particular emphasis on opportunities in the Western Balkans and the southern Mediterranean. The event brought together creative people from EU member states, the southern Mediterranean and the Western Balkans. The conference focused on youth and employment opportunities for young people in culture and the creative sectors, which provide jobs for almost 30 million people around the world, and… read more

Brussels, 19 March 2018. – The 43 member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) convened today in Brussels at the 10th Trade Ministerial Conference, where they gave a new impulse to economic integration in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The Ministerial Conference was held under the UfM Co-Presidency of Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Trade, and Yarub Qudah, Jordanian Minister of Trade, Industry and Supply, in the presence of Jorge Borrego, UfM Acting Secretary General. The level of regional economic integration in the Euro-Mediterranean region remains amongst the lowest in the world. Eight years have passed since the last Trade Ministerial… read more