More than 300 participants including Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Presidents of employers’ associations of Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia, as well as 200 business leaders from the region gathered at the Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat in Barcelona on 23 October at the First Economic Forum of the Western Mediterranean (Dialogue 5+5).
Gathering business leaders and high-level representatives from major enterprises and employers’ associations from the Western Mediterranean, the event aimed at strengthening the economic cooperation between Western European countries and the Maghreb region.
Conceived as a platform for debate and identification of concrete areas of cooperation, the Forum sessions focused on the role of the Western Mediterranean in a global economy; the economic cooperation between Europe, Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa; public services and sustainable urban development; Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as vectors of business development and economic growth; project funding for development; and Mediterranean arbitration.
Acknowledging the commitment of the Member States to boost their cooperation in search of a result-based cooperation, regional cooperation projects identified within the framework of the 5+5 Dialogue are being implemented through the operational capacities of the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).
