On 4 December 2023 the Fifth Union of the Mediterranean (UfM) Trade and Investment Forum took place in Brussels. This year’s Forum was dedicated to the topics covered by the regional Team Europe Initiative (TEI) “Jobs through Trade and Investment in the Southern Neighbourhood” implemented by DG NEAR in collaboration with Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden, as well as EBRD and EIB.

The regional TEI already covers 90 programmes throughout the Euro-Mediterranean region with a total budget of 2.9 billion euros.

The Forum was shaped around the three pillars of the TEI, notably: 1°/Sustainable Trade and Investment, 2°/Vocational training, 3°/Inclusive entrepreneurship.  It was an excellent opportunity to analyse structural gaps and supply-side constraints which impede partners’ participation in regional and international value chains and limit trade benefits in the Euro-Mediterranean region. It also gave the occasion to discuss entrepreneurship, especially for young and female entrepreneurs, and how supportive ecosystems can turn jobseekers into job-providers, and finally participants evoked how to bridge the skill gap in the region. On top of these issues, common challenges linked to the green and digital transitions were discussed among participants.

The UfM Forum gathered around 150 stakeholders from the private sector and civil society, as well as EU Member States, their cooperation agencies and the EBRD. The European Commission was represented by high-level interventions (DG TRADE, EMPL, NEAR) with a concluding statement by EC VP, Valdis Dombrovskis, calling for an extended partnership and enhanced policy dialogue between the two shores of the Mediterranean.

Please find here the video of the TEI and the Event.