Konrad Adenauer Foundation and UfM Secretariat give a voice to engaged youth in the Mediterranean

Barcelona, 10 May 2017.  The seminar ‘Bridging Youth Across the Mediterranean’ jointly hosted by the UfM Secretariat and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation came to a close today following one and a half days of open exchange, debate and sharing of ideas among each other and with experts of the region.

Throughout the seminar, 35 young women and men representing youth organisations from 24 countries of the northern and southern Mediterranean basin discussed issues such as youth participation, youth policies, the risks and opportunities of new forms of communication and potential for future cooperation.

The relevance of the youth in Mediterranean countries is undeniable: in the South, the under-30-years-old make-up approximately 60% of the total population and will therefore achieve prominence in their countries in the next decades. Young people must have a say in and be actors of the transformations and development of their countries.

Speaking at the opening of the seminar, the Secretary General of the UfM and the Director of the Regional Program Political Dialogue South Mediterranean from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung underlined the vast and largely untapped potential of opportunities of youth.

They highlighted the commitment of their respective institutions to contribute to efforts aiming at bridging youth across the Mediterranean, providing them with adequate education and employability skills, and giving young representatives from the Euro-Mediterranean region incentives for a successful participation in the development of their communities, countries and of the whole region.

UfM Secretary General Sijilmassi stressed the priority given to youth by the UfM. The 2^nd UfM Regional Forum, held in Barcelona last January under the EU and Jordan Co-presidency, focused on the theme of ‘Youth for Stability and Development’ and placed youth at the very heart of the Euro-Mediterranean regional cooperation agenda