In this newsletter, the programme offers an overview of policies and regulations impacting the MSMEs business environment in the current context.
In this new Policy Paper, Hussein Suleiman analyses the Haya Karima initiative and looks at rural vulnerability in Egypt.
Being a child is the same all around the world. Their dreams about the future precede all difficulties and troubles. 13-year-old Kevkab did not give up on her dreams as a child who lived through the conflict in Syria and built a new life in Türkiye with her mother. Thanks to funding from the European Union and the support of the Turkish authorities, the implementing partner GOAL Türkiye is providing the necessary support for Kevkab to work towards realising her dreams. After several years of absence, she returned to school, and rolled up her sleeves to become a lawyer.
Najim lost one of his legs 5 years ago when an air attack hit his village in Syria. Fleeing the violence and looking for proper treatment, he ended up in Reyhanli, a small town on the Turkish side of the border. The local rehabilitation centre of Relief International, funded by EU humanitarian aid, helped him with a prosthesis and adapted physiotherapy. Over the past years, the rehabilitation centre in Reyhanli helped close to 1,500 patients with mobility aid. Another 9,000 were supported in other EU-funded centres of Relief International across Türkiye.
On 27-31 March, representatives of around 130 EU delegations met in Brussels to attend a series of conferences and workshops tailored to inform their work on the ground and to meet their counterparts in headquarters. The sessions were designed to present the policies in place to enhance biodiversity and fight climate change and to offer an overview of tools and practices at the disposal of EU delegations.
Following the release of the thematic report of the METI programme in 2022, the report is now available in French and in Arabic.
On 13-17 March, focal points posted in over 130 EU delegations (EUDs) met in Brussels to attend a series of conferences and trainings. The week-long event was the opportunity to take stock of the achievements in the fields of human rights, civil society, gender and youth in EU's external action, to assess existing constraints and to share experiences.
Fifty participants from more than 20 countries, including 32 Mediterranean and Black Sea Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (MediPIET) fellows, attended the MediPIET Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Awareness and Mitigation Module in Petrovac, Montenegro.
In Brussels, the steering committee enabled to reflect on the achievements of the past year and on the new work programme for the year ahead.
On 13-16 March, in Algiers and Verona, the EuroMed Justice Programme held the "EuroMed Environmental Justice Week", a great opportunity to link both shores of the Mediterranean.
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In relation to EuroMeSCo's 2022 Annual Conference, a policy paper highlights the inequalities that have been further exacerbated in the labour market due to COVID-19.
On 14 March in Nice, EuroMeSCo presented the results of its annual stakeholders survey, which focused this year on social justice and inclusiveness in the Mediterranean area.
From 8-10 March, the ANIMA Investment Network held a very engaging Academy "Intelligence Strategy, Customer Relationship and Communication" in Paris, France.
A user-centric digital platform is needed to support small- and medium-size exporters in Tunisia access to support instruments. This was the aim of the workshop hosted by the MED MSMEs programme in Tunisia on 16 March.
Women-owned micro-,small- and medium-sized enterprises are still facing financial and non-financial barriers. The MED MSMEs programme offered a webinar to show how Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs) can contribute to the reduction of such barriers.
A successful three-day workshop brought together Ministries in charge of Trade and Investment, Economic Planning and Labour, representatives of Trade Unions and employers' organizations and private sector representatives to share their knowledge and experience on the impact of trade and investment on decent employment.
As 2023 marks the 10-year anniversary of El-Hiwar, the phase III of the project, implemented by the College of Europe, was kicked off on 20 March in Brussels. The event enabled engaging conversations on the prospects for current and future EU-League of Arab States (LAS) relations.
Connecting electricity grids is an important step in creating more resilient power grids (in the perspective of a gradual integration of Mediterranean energy systems) as well as allowing more (fluctuating) renewable electricity to be absorbed in our energy systems. Some 80 participants from the members of the associations of Transmission System Operators throughout Europe as well as in the Southern Neighbourhood, came together in Brussels to discuss this topic at the closing event of the TEASIMED phase I project which operated from September 2020 to March 2023.
With the aim to support entrepreneurship among youths in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Incubator for Information and Communication Technology "PICTI" held on 15 March the ‘From Innovation to Creativity’ Hackathon, funded by the European Union and in collaboration with SPARK
