9-10 July 2024, Cairo, Egypt – The Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), with the support of the German Development Cooperation and Climate & Company, organised the UfM Workshop on Sustainable Supply Chains on 9-10 July 2024. The event, also supported by the Egyptian Commercial Service (ECS), aimed to present and discuss the latest initiatives highlighting the importance of supply chain considerations in defining sustainable economic activities and underscoring the need for enhanced value chain reporting. The workshop emphasised the necessity of collaboration between Mediterranean partner countries and the European Union (EU) to meet its environmental targets and… read more
16 July 2024, Online – The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) successfully held its third and final Youth Focal Points Network meeting, focusing on “Youth Engagement in Policies on Social Inclusion and Participation”. The session began with opening remarks from the UfM Co-Presidency, represented by Mr. Fakhri Altwal from Jordan’s Ministry of Youth and Ms. Maria Teresa Castillo Campo from the EU Commission’s DG NEAR. Following this, UfM Deputy Secretary General for Social and Civil Affairs, John Paul Grech, delivered introductory remarks. Ms. Giulia Maria Ferraresi, Project Analyst in the same division, presented UfM’s efforts towards a Regional Agenda on… read more
Within the framework of the 2024 Summer School for Young Diplomats held in Montenegro, the UfM Secretariat hosted a Workshop on Economic Diplomacy bringing together high-profile keynote speakers. The Summer School saw a record participation with young diplomats from 46 countries from the UfM Region and beyond. 23-28 June 2024, Kolaši and Podgorica (Montenegro). Building on the first edition of the UfM Seminar: Economic Diplomacy as a lever for regional integration in the Euro-Mediterranean which was co-organised with the Policy Centre for the New South (PCNS) (Rabat, 20-21 July 2023), the UfM Secretariat is organizing a workshop titled “Advancing Common… read more
25 June 2024, Online – The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Regional Platform on Industrial Cooperation convened online on 25 June 2024. The meeting was co-chaired by the European Union (EU) and Jordanian UfM Co-presidencies and hosted by the UfM Secretariat. It brought together senior officials from the UfM Member States responsible for industrial cooperation, Small Business Act (SBA) coordinators, and representatives from embassies and international organisations. The session was officially opened by Ms Outi Slotboom, Director for Strategy and Economic Analysis at the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (DG GROW); Ms Wafa Jiries,… read more
12-13 June 2024, Algiers, Algeria – The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), supported by the German Development Cooperation, recently concluded its second regional workshop on integrating green skills into academic curricula, focusing on renewable energy. This initiative is part of the UfM’s commitment to fostering innovative approaches to learning, teaching, and research to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The workshops, designed to prepare Mediterranean graduates and researchers for evolving job markets, underscore the critical role of education in the green transition. A holistic approach encompassing higher education, vocational training, and continuous professional development is essential, as outlined in the… read more
13 June 2024, online – In line with the UfM Youth Agenda priorities, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is hosting three online meetings in 2024 for the UfM Youth Focal Points Network. These meetings aim to enhance youth involvement in policymaking on the three Agenda priorities: Climate Action and Environment, Education and Employment, and Social Inclusion and Participation. Following the initial meeting in May 2022 on Youth Engagement in Climate and Environmental Policymaking, the second meeting was held on June 13, 2024, focusing on Youth Engagement in Policies on Education and Employment. The event featured 45 participants, including UfM… read more
11 June 2024, Dead Sea, Jordan. Union for the Mediterranean Secretary General Nasser Kamel took part in the “Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza” conference today in Jordan, where he stressed the Euro-Mediterranean intergovernmental organisation’s readiness to play an active role as soon as early recovery can start in Gaza/Palestine. Organised by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United Nations, the UfM Secretary General was among the heads of states and governments and representatives of international organisations, financial institutions and nongovernmental organisations at the event to identify Gaza’s humanitarian assistance needs, how… read more
6 June 2024, Lisbon, Portugal. The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) successfully organised the 14th Meeting of the UfM Regional Platform on Water, held alongside the workshop on the UNECE/WHO Protocol on Water and Health in Mediterranean ‘Increasing Climate Resilience of the Water and Sanitation Sector in the Mediterranean Region’. The event, co-organised by the UNECE and WHO/Europe joint secretariat of the Protocol and the Portuguese Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority (ERSAR), convened key stakeholders, policymakers, and experts from across the Mediterranean and Europe. The primary focus was on innovative solutions for water security, public health, and sustainable water management,… read more
Córdoba, 5-6 June 2024 – The Final Meeting of the programme on “Urban Heritage and Traditional Building Skills in the Southern Mediterranean Region”, organized with the financial support of AECID and in collaboration with the UNESCO Maghreb Office at Casa Árabe in Córdoba, Spain, on 5-6 June 2024, built on the results of each of the national workshops held in Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia in 2023-24. The Final Meeting also served to jointly design concrete regional actions to be implemented during the second semester of 2024 and 2025. The programme, launched by the UfM and the UNESCO Office for… read more
The Mediterranean region is home to over 80 million hectares of degraded land. More than 400,000 hectares of forests are burned each year and at least 16 animal and plant species are at risk of extinction due to environmental threats such as climate change. Drylands cover over a third of Mediterranean EU countries, most notably in Spain and Cyprus. In the MENA countries, only 5% of land is suitable for agriculture, a situation that is particularly critical in Libya, Algeria, Egypt, and Jordan. As a consequence, limited fertile soil and challenges in reclaiming land hinder agricultural expansion. 5 June 2024,… read more
