26 January 2022. The UfM warmly congratulates the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), as it celebrates the 30th Anniversary of its founding in 1992. The UfM maintains close relations with the BSEC, with whom it signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2015. Given the respective missions and areas of cooperation, as well as the geographic common areas, the two organizations are deeply committed to the reinforcement of cooperation and creation of synergies in of common interests such as combating marine litter and plastics, addressing the negative impact of Climate Change and promoting the Blue Economy, among others. Moreover,… read more
24 January 2022. UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, met with Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, in Ankara in Turkey on Monday January 24, 2022. They discussed the challenges and the opportunities in the Mediterranean region, as well as the way to reinforce the cooperation among Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean to promote a sustainable development and stability in the region. During the meeting, the Secretary General recalled the need to focus in a sustainable post pandemic recovery phase on an effective regional integration that will unleash the full social and economic potential of the Mediterranean… read more
Tuesday 18 January 2022. The Commissioner General for Italy, Paolo Glisent, and the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel, announce the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding for the European Commission’s “No Women No Panel” campaign, taken up a year ago by Rai Radio1 . The Union for the Mediterranean announced its participation in March 2021 in the campaign seeking to improve gender representation and equality in the public debates in the Euro-Mediterranean Region. The UfM Secretary General highlighted: “The UfM is very proud to formally support and sign the MoU for the initiative No Women No… read more
Sharm el Cheikh, 10-13 January 2022 – The Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel, participated at the 4th edition of the World Youth Forum (WYF) held in Sharm el Cheikh under the auspices of Egyptian President Abdelfattah El Sisi. This year’s edition was titled “Back together” and discussed Post-COVID effects, climate change, and human rights among other topics. The World Youth Forum is a platform built by promising youth engaging young people from around the world and allowing them to exchange views and recommend initiatives to decision-makers and influential figures. It is a chance for youth… read more
The new UfM Research and Innovation agenda supports three new research priorities: climate change, health and renewable energy. The UfM meeting of Senior Officials on 21 October endorsed the R&I platform proposal to hold an R&I Ministerial. The UfM Ad-hoc Senior Official Meeting convened on 20 December kickstarted the process for agreeing on a joint UfM Ministerial Declaration. 20 December 2021, Barcelona. The UfM meeting of Senior Officials on 21 October endorsed the R&I platform proposal to hold a Ministerial on Research and Innovation, the first under the UfM framework. This virtual meeting is scheduled to be hosted by France… read more
The UfM Regional Platform on Trade and Investment convened its second meeting in 2021 by videoconference. 16 December 2021. The 42 Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean convened today by videoconference for the second meeting of the UfM Regional Platform on Trade and Investment. They followed up on the planned work agreed upon at the previous meeting in July 2021, encompassing three main pillars of Sustainable Trade, Sustainable Investment and Regional Integration, along the lines of the Joint Declaration by UfM Trade Ministers of November 2020. The meeting of the platform was chaired by the UfM Co-Presidency, the… read more
Barcelona, 16 December 2021-The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Thematic Working Groups on Land Transport (Road, Rail and Urban Transport), Air Transport, Maritime Transport and Logistics of the UfM Regional Platform on Transport Connectivity which were held online from 14 to 16 December 2021, resumed the process of laying the groundwork at technical level for the upcoming UfM Ministerial Conference on Transport, in particular by continuing the discussions and the consultative process on the new Regional Transport Action Plan for the Mediterranean region (RTAP) for the period 2021-2027. The meetings which were co-chaired by the UfM Co-Presidency (European Commission’s DG… read more
30 November and 1st December 2021. In collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a UfM Practical Educational Workshop on “e-governance” was implemented by the Estonian ICT Cluster for the benefit of Mauritania in a hybrid format on 30th November and 1st December 2021. The third in a series of UfM e-governance Workshops organized throughout 2021 as a follow-up to the outcomes of the UfM Conference on “Digital Transformation and Digital Skills for the Future” held in Tallinn (Estonian Capital), on 30 September 2019, this tangible initiative aimed to provide an opportunity for best practices sharing on digitalization as well… read more
Barcelona, 9 December 2021. During the last meeting of the UfM Senior Officials for 2021, and just ahead of the 2022 European Year of Youth, the 42 member states adopted unanimously the UfM Youth Strategy 2030 – Euro-Mediterranean Youth towards a common goal. The Euro-Mediterranean region has one of the youngest populations in the world, with one in every three people being younger than 25 years old, and with this number reaching almost half of the population for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries. Moreover, youth are among the most vulnerable groups in the face of the pressing challenges our… read more
Today, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) gathered in Barcelona for the 6th UfM Regional Forum, held on occasion of the Day of the Mediterranean. On the margins of the UfM Regional Forum, the Secretariat held a conference to present and discuss ground-breaking results from the UfM-OECD study on the state of play of Euro-Mediterranean regional integration. 29 November 2021. Held in the framework of the celebrations of the Day of the Mediterranean, unanimously endorsed by all UfM Member States last year, the 6th Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Regional Forum took place today in Barcelona. During the meeting,… read more