The 12th Ministerial Meeting of UfM Trade Ministers is due to be convened in the second half of 2023. 20 July 2022. The Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean convened today by videoconference for the third meeting of the UfM Regional Platform on Trade and Investment. They followed up on the planned work encompassing the 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 European Commission (DG TRADE) and Jordan… read more
The four awarded projects benefitted 18K people in 7 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region, namely, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, and Tunisia Barcelona, 14 July 2022. As part of its regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UfM launched a Grant Scheme for Employment Promotion in 2020 aiming at improving the employment situation particularly those from the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries. To showcase the work done and the lessons learned by the awarded projects, the Closing Ceremony of the UfM Grant Scheme for Employment Promotion was organized at the Union for the Mediterranean headquarters in Barcelona on the 14th of… read more
Civitavecchia, 7-8 July 2022. The MEDports Forum 2022: The Challenge of Digitalisation in the Mediterranean, was held in Civitavecchia, Italy on 7 and 8 July 2022. The Forum was co-organized by the MEDports Association and the Port System Authority of Central Northern Tyrrhenian Sea – Port of Civitavecchia, and co-sponsored by the Union for the Mediterranean. For several years now, and especially since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, digitalisation has emerged as one of the key drivers for the development of a more sustainable and resilient global shipping industry. Widespread awareness of climate change, the need for greater safety and… read more
27-28 June 2022, Lisbon The UfM Secretary General Nasser Kamel attended the UN Ocean Summit where he showcased the work of the Union for the Mediterranean on the protection of the Mediterranean Sea and environment. The Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, comes at a critical time as the world is seeking to address many of the deep-rooted problems of our societies laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and which will require major structural transformations and common shared solutions that are anchored in the SDGs. The SG took the opportunity to meet with the recently appointed Minister of… read more
Research and Innovation Ministers from the 42 countries of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) met for the first time to discuss ways to promote scientific cooperation on climate change, renewable energy and health. They endorsed a ministerial declaration that seeks to exploit the potential of research and innovation to increase the resilience of the Euro-Mediterranean region against environmental, food security and socioeconomic challenges, as well as to promote science diplomacy. Paris, 27 June 2022. The Ministerial Conference on research and innovation (R&I) of the Union for the Mediterranean was held to promote international cooperation on science and knowledge in… read more
23-24 June 2022. The UfM Secretary general was invited to participate in the Tunisia Investment Forum and the ANIMA Investment Network Annual Conference held on 21-24 June 2022 in Tunis. In addition to the Forum, the ANIMA network organized a series of events in the sidelines of the Tunisia Investment Forum from 21 to 24 June 2022 in association with the Confédération des Entreprises Citoyennes de Tunisia (CONECT) and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA Tunisia). In addition, the UfM Secretary General had a working lunch with Samir SAÏED, Minister of Economy and Planning of Tunisia, and gave a live interview… read more
22 June, 9:00 – 18:00h, World Trade Center, Barcelona – The UfM Blue Finance Conference took place on the 22nd of June, 2022, at World Trade Center in Barcelona. The goal of the Conference was to encourage investments in- and funding of- Sustainable Blue Economy projects and initiatives in the Mediterranean region, especially in the Southern countries. We brought together financial institutions, banks (multilateral and national), private investors and UfM country and industry representatives to exchange information on funding, discuss criteria and viability of projects/initiatives and the enablers and conditions, which may help attract investments. The Conference was structured around two main… read more
Helsinki, 16 June 2022. The Workshop “Housing cooperatives: a sustainable model for European and Mediterranean countries”, held on 16 June in Helsinki in the margins of the International Social Housing Festival 2022, was co-organised by the UfM Secretariat and Housing Europe and gathered representatives of both Housing Cooperatives and the Ministries in charge of Housing from European and neighbouring countries. The workshop, which contributed to the implementation of the UfM Strategic Urban Development Action Plan 2040 and its Housing Action Plan, presented different existing models of housing cooperatives in Europe and in neighbouring Mediterranean countries, it discussed the success factors… read more
UfM Member States met today at the level of Senior Officials to discuss the activities and projects of the Union for the Mediterranean for the second semester 2022. They exchanged on the state-of-play of the preparations for the upcoming Ministerial Meetings on Research and Innovation (27 June 2022), on Transport (3 October 2022), and on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society (26 October 2022). They further granted the UfM label to the project ‘Euro-Mediterranean Guarantee Network (EMGN)’, which aims at facilitating access to finance, in particular for MSMEs, by in four areas: training, research and development, advocacy and communication… read more
14 June 2022, Online- The UfM Regional Platform on Industrial Cooperation convened on 14 June 2022, bringing together, along with the EU and Jordanian UfM Co-presidencies as well as the UfM Secretariat, representatives of Embassies, Small Business Act “SBA” coordinators and Senior Officials in charge of industrial cooperation from the UfM Member States. On this occasion, the most recent EU policies (EU Standardisation Strategy, EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and Team Europe Initiative on Jobs through Trade and Investment) were presented and discussed. Within the framework of the implementation of its new Work Programme for the period 2021-2024, the discussion focused… read more
