Promoting Social Dialogue in the Southern Mediterranean

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 the view of institutionalizing dialogue and improving working conditions within the region, towards achieving the overarching goal of an inclusive and responsible economic growth.”

Secretary General Kamel also stressed that the need for an effective and inclusive social dialogue is very well integrated into the UfM mindset, being part of its multi-stakeholder approach and in line with the Declaration on Social Dialogue that was adopted at the 3rd UfM Ministerial Conference on Employment and Labour (Jordan, 26-27 September, 2016). During this conference, the social partners expressed their desire and their commitment to contributing positively to the process of setting up strong, independent and effective social dialogues in the 43 countries of the Union for the Mediterranean.

SOLiD has been actively developing the capacities of Trade Unions, Employers’ Associations and Civil Society Organizations in the region since 2016.

About SOLID

SOLiD-South Mediterranean Social Dialogue is a three years programme (2016-2019), with a €3.750 million budget, 80% of which is financed by the European Union and 20% by the International Trade Union Confederation. It is coordinated by a consortium which consists of 9 members: ATUC (Arab Trade Union Confederation), BusinessMed (Union of Mediterranean Confederation of Enterprises), ANND (Arab NGO Network for Development), ISCOS (Italian Union Institute for Cooperation and Development), Progetto SUD, AIP (Portugal Industry Association), SOLIDAR, CNT Belgium (National Labor Council) and CES Morocco (Economic and Social Council).