The 14th UfM Regional Platform on Employment and Labour took place on 14-15 March in Nice, France. The main objective of the meeting was to discuss the implementation of the UfM Ministerial Declaration on Employment and Labour.

The meeting started with an overview of the priorities of the Swedish EU Council Presidency, as well as with a presentation of the economic development strategy of the Metropole Nice Côte d’Azur. This was followed by a presentation of the results of the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMED) survey “Towards more social justice and inclusiveness in the Mediterranean”.

The two day meeting was then articulated around 5 sessions and allowed for interactive discussions with the participants:

• The 1^st session was dedicated to youth employment whereby the participants where updated about the state of play of the UfM Community of Practices on Youth Employment, the Technical Assistance Facility on Youth Employment,  as well as other UfM initiatives on Youth Employment.
• The 2^nd session was dedicated to Women Economic Empowerment. The session kicked off with some data on women in the Mediterranean Region, followed then by a presentation of the EU Regional Programme on Women Economic Empowerment.
• The 3^rd session dealt with the monitoring exercise involving 11 volunteering UfM Member States. The European Training Foundation reported on the revised monitoring framework process as well as the next steps.
• The 4^th session updated the participants about recent developments on skills. The Anna Lindh Foundation presented their activities in this domain, followed by presentation on the upcoming “High-level Meeting on Skills in the Mediterranean”, as well as the European Alliance for Apprenticeships. ETF also provided an overview of their contribution to the European Year of Skills and role of the partner countries.
• The 5th and last session dealt with a presentation of the Regional Team Europe Initiative Jobs through Trade and Investment with a focus on Pillar 2 whereby a discussion took place on the challenges and opportunities the countries are facing.