8 April 2019, Algiers. The UfM, represented by the Senior Deputy Secretary General for Energy, Jorge Borrego, and Senior Expert Fawzi Dib, participated in Algiers in the first thematic forum leading to the Summit of the Two Shores (S2R) to be held in Marseille next June, as convened by the French President Emmanuel Macron last summer. This thematic forum was held on the 8 of April and focused on energy, with emphasis on energy transition, renewable energy and energy efficiency, electric interconnections, conventional energy sources, and the digitalization of the energy sector. Civil society representatives contributed to debates by proposing… read more
The Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Managing Authority of the ENI (European Neighbourhood Instrument) CBC Med Programme signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote economic and social development and to address common environmental challenges in the Mediterranean region by strengthening the impact of regional projects and capitalization activities. Barcelona, 10 April 2019. The UfM Secretariat and the Managing Authority of the ENI CBC Med Programme signed today a strategic cooperation agreement during the visit of Christian Danielsson, Director General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission, to the UfM headquarters, in Barcelona. The… read more
Beirut, Lebanon, 8 April 2019. The UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, has paid his first visit to the Republic of Lebanon, in the framework of his outreach to the member states. He was received by the Prime Minister, Saad Hariri. During their meeting, Secretary General Kamel highlighted the central role of Lebanon in Euro-Mediterranean relations and its rich Mediterranean heritage. The visit to Lebanon was also the also the opportunity for the Secretary General to intervene at the inauguration of the 7th Beirut Water Week, organized by the Ministry of Water and Energy of the Republic of Lebanon with the support… read more
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
Cascais, Portugal, 1 April 2019. Degrees, PhDs, and research initiatives are essential tools for supporting the implementation of an inclusive economy, but despite the rise in numbers of university graduates across the Euro-Mediterranean region, youth unemployement remains a regional challenge. One of the reasons for high levels of unemployment for Mediterranean youth is a persistent gap between the skills acquired at universities and the requirements of business. More than 32 percent of Enterprises in some Southern Mediterranean Countries have identified labor skill levels as a major constraint to hiring [1]. Despite significant resources being invested in specialised training programmes, young… read more
Ahead of the 4th UfM Ministerial Meeting on Employment and Labour, the UfM endorses initiatives to promote blue and sustainable economic growth in order to improve livelihood and create jobs Brussels, 28 March 2019. The Senior Officials of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) endorsed today two new regional projects to contribute to the transition towards sustainable, low-carbon and climate-resilient development (Clima-Med) and on encouraging the development of skills, knowledge and research in the field of Blue Economy (Blue Skills). The UfM will join forces for these projects with the European Union and Italian National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics… read more
The Mediterranean region has more than 25 million hectares of forests and about 50 million hectares of other wooded lands. Protected forest areas cover 9 million hectares, representing 4.3 percent of the region’s total surface area. The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) will launch a project to restore biodiversity in the Mediterranean through forest and landscape restoration, on 1 April at the 6th Mediterranean Forest week (Lebanon) Barcelona, 20 March 2019. The Mediterranean basin is the world’s second largest biodiversity hotspot: rich in plant diversity containing some 25 000-plant… read more
