The Project “Mainstreaming Employment in Trade and Investment in the South Mediterranean Countries ” (METI) held its third Policy Working Group meeting on Friday, July 21, 2023, and it was chaired by the Tunisian Ministry of Trade and Export Development, in Tunis.

The meeting was attended by representavives by the Ministry of Trade and Export Development, the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, social partners, representatives of national technical agencies and trade and investment support structures.

After selecting the aromatic and medicinal plants and essential oils sector in January 2022 and following the bibliographic analysis that was developed by the METI project, the members of the policy working group met to discuss how best to conduct the value chain analysis taking into consideration the results of the various projects and initiatives that have worked on this sector in order to build on the existing and avoid any kind of overlap.

In order to support the productive development of the aromatic and medicinal plants and essential oils sector, including for SMEs, while creating quality jobs, especially for women and young people, the project will conduct value chain analyses of the aromatic and medicinal crops subsector.

The METI project is a four-year regional project (September 2020 - August 2024), funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

The overall objective of the project is to help policymakers in the Mediterranean region to integrate employment issues into trade and investment policies, and to design and implement interventions that ultimately optimize the quantity and quality of jobs created in the region. The project will also facilitate the operationalisation of the EU's European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) through policy dialogue and support initiatives related to the COVID-19 pandemic.