“New Stakes in a Changing Mediterranean” — The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) convenes in Florence for eleventh meeting of the Mediterranean Strategy Group

Florence, 5 June 2015. Identifying emerging issues important to the Mediterranean region and transatlantic policy implications is the focus of the eleventh meeting of the Mediterranean Strategy Group (MSG) that concluded today in Florence.

The Mediterranean Strategy Group (MSG) is the core convening activity of the German Marshall Fund’s Mediterranean Policy Program. The meeting, which was organised in partnership with the Compagnia di San Paolo, the OCP Policy Center and Noble Energy Inc. and with the support of Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze,  discussed “New Stakes in a Changing Mediterranean: Perspectives from Asia, Eurasia, and the Gulf”.

The discussions, held between roughly 40 representatives from the public and private sectors on all sides of the Mediterranean, focused on the Mediterranean’s position in the global outlook as an old and new actor in Mediterranean trade, investment, and development, in addition to security and geopolitical challenges.

“The meeting today is convened in a particular context, with 2015 being a pivotal year in the history of Euro-Mediterranean relations. The mounting multidimensional challenges in the Mediterranean are, with no doubt, calling for a new qualitative impetus to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership”, underlined UfM Secretary General Fathallah Sijilmassi during the opening statement delivered on the third day of the high-level roundtable.

“We should act effectively and collectively by giving proper priority to the political issues in our region, and by developing a comprehensive global and balanced approach in the Mediterranean in order to deal with security challenges as well as the challenge of socio-economic development”, said Sijilmassi.