MedaWeek Barcelona presents the 'Barcelona Declaration of the Mediterranean Private Sector’
The 'Mediterranean Week of Economic Leaders', the benchmark event for promoting Mediterranean economies, business cooperation and the Mediterranean region worldwide, which is jointly organised by the Association of Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME) and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, with the collaboration of leading Euro-Mediterranean organisations, is celebrating its 14th edition this year with more than 14 forums, sessions and conferences, and various presentations of various initiatives to reactivate Mediterranean economies, as well as the partnership between Europe and the Mediterranean during 18, 19 and 20 November.
Coinciding with the 25th Anniversary of the Barcelona Process, ASCAME, with the support of Mediterranean, European and Arab private sector organisations, has presented a new Declaration which seeks to reposition the Mediterranean as a key actor for recovery in the post-COVID-19 era, as 25 years after the Barcelona Process, many of the objectives are still valid. Work must therefore be done to improve shared prosperity based on South-South and North-South relations, bearing in mind that Europe continues to be the leading economic partner of the countries of the South and Eastern Mediterranean. Recent events, from the financial crisis, the Arab Spring to the refugee crisis and the pandemic caused by COVID-19, reinforce the need to work together to achieve the objectives of the Barcelona Process.
The more than 25 years that have passed since the Barcelona Process was launched in 1995 have also enabled a vision to be developed of what the main problems of the Mediterranean are and what types of proposals and instruments could be implemented in the search for answers that will enable the development of the Mediterranean region and the construction of a common future between the two shores.
The urgency of a reactivation to avoid economic and financial asphyxiation due to the impact of the COVID-19, makes it necessary to lay the foundations for a new and different economic development model based on promoting and enhancing innovation and digitalization, the green economy and the sea; prioritizing the participation of women and young people in the regional economy; creating a regional Erasmus programme; strengthening the contribution of the diasporas; rescuing and promoting SMEs; creating a subsidiary of the European Bank for Reconstruction in the Mediterranean; focusing on tourism, the textile sector and sustainable agriculture; promoting the Europe-Africa axis across the Mediterranean; and creating a regional energy market, among other initiatives.
In the same week that China announced the creation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), an Asia-Pacific economic integration zone covering one third of the world's population and economic output, the Mediterranean and Europe must speed up integration and recover the Barcelona vocation of 1995 to create a free trade zone of peace and shared prosperity, as well as creating synergies between this future zone and the continental free trade zone in Africa.
After an opening speech by Salaheddine Mezouar, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco, the presentation of the initiatives was made by Maria Helena de Felipe, President of AFAEMME; Ahmed M. El Wakil, President of ASCAME; and Joan Canadell, President of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce.
The Barcelona Declaration for the economic integration of the Mediterranean includes several points:
- Creating a new vision of economic integration
- Building tomorrow's economy
- Promote the active participation and stimulate the competitiveness of the private sector
- Involve the Mediterranean private sector in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDAs)
- Supporting SMEs as a key factor in economic development
- Investing in Human Capital
- Prioritising the role of Mediterranean women in the region's economies
- Fighting youth unemployment and promoting entrepreneurship and innovation
- Promoting a Mediterranean Erasmus
- Encouraging the promotion of arbitration and mediation in the Mediterranean
- Enhancing public-private partnerships in the region
- Stimulating the contribution of diasporas
- Promoting a financial instrument for development in the Mediterranean
- Developing access to finance
- Attract private investment and incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors into investment
- Building sustainable and interconnected health systems in the Mediterranean
- Welcoming the digital and innovation era in the Mediterranean
- Accelerating the Green Economy
- Consolidating the Blue Economy
- Promote Mediterranean industrial ecosystems
- Supporting social and solidarity economy enterprises in the Mediterranean
- Refloating traditional Mediterranean economic sectors: textiles, agri-food, automotive and tourism
- Supporting integrated transport and the multimodal network in the Mediterranean
- Moving towards sustainable tourism
- Development of the Euro-Mediterranean energy market
"The creation of alliances, agreements and partnerships must be encouraged. The strategic importance of a new vision of partnership between the two sides of the Mediterranean must be stressed, which would allow a link between the two continents and a deep integration between Europe and Africa. The COVID-19 crisis makes this new partnership even more necessary in order to deal with the economic and social consequences of the pandemic. Implementing the Barcelona Declaration will help us to recover the economy", says Anwar Zibaoui, General Coordinator of ASCAME (Association of Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry).
MedaWeek Barcelona 2020 is organised by ASCAME, the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) and the Zona Franca Consortium. A platform for business cooperation that aims to boost the economy of the Mediterranean regions by building relations between the key economic sectors on both sides of the Mediterranean.
The 'Mediterranean Week of Economic Leaders' has been established as the main forum for the promotion of the private sector and the integration of the Mediterranean regions. Since its creation, more than 20,000 professionals, businessmen, entrepreneurs, public sector representatives and journalists have attended the event.
