Anwar Zibaoui, partner of Atalayar and organizer of MEDAWEEK, has announced that this year they hope to triple the capacity thanks to the online facilities

MEDAWEEK reinvents itself and introduces innovations to private companies in the Mediterranean

photo_camera PHOTO / Archive - Anwar Zibaoui, organizer of MEDAWEEK and interviewed in Atalayar

During Atalayar's Thursday programme on Capital Radio, Víctor Arribas, presenter and journalist, interviewed Anwat Zibaoi, organiser of MEDAWEEK, an event to be held on 18, 19 and 20 November and designed for private companies on the Mediterranean coast.

The main objective of MEDAWEEK is to promote the Mediterranean region in all countries of the world, but above all, the event seeks to create links between companies from different Mediterranean countries to create a solid commercial network. 

During this year it seems that there will be a significant presence of Euro-Mediterranean actors, as well as the presence of several representatives of the various international banks to explain to private companies what development options they have within their sector. Anwar Zibaoui, good afternoon, what else does MEDAWEEK mean

Good afternoon, MEDAWEEK is the meeting point for the countries on the Mediterranean coast, focused on the private sector. It will be like the DAVOS but focused on the private sector. The aim is to cover all the Mediterranean countries with the objective, not only of increasing inter-Mediterranean economic cooperation, but also of promoting the Mediterranean economically at a global level.

The project was born from private initiative, trade associations and Chambers of Commerce, right

Yes, the initiative comes from ASCAME (Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry), which is the largest private sector organisation in the Mediterranean. The Chambers of Commerce of 23 countries will be participating in the event, with the collaboration of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.

But there will also be some 40 other organisations participating, from Business Europe, EuroChamb... Although these are already organisations that participate in specific events, they are not global partners.

MEDAWEEK

Furthermore, we are coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration, so this has a very special significance..

Yes, indeed. It coincides this year with the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean Declaration which, at the time, visionaries thought that "having a Mediterranean area in peace and prosperity would solve many problems".

Unfortunately we have not achieved this... We have seen how the problems have multiplied, how the south in some countries has wars, the economic situation. And as in the south of Europe the financial crisis of identities...
This also coincides with the coronavirus and the post-coronavirus, which also indicates that among all the misfortunes that this pandemic has brought, it has also shown that the Mediterranean project is more necessary than ever.

f the coronavirus has proved anything, it is that global logistics chains are becoming increasingly regional, as we have seen during the pandemic... Imports from China by large companies have been nipped in the bud. 

This has given an indicator that globalisation is wild. China has been the great beneficiary, European companies have gone to manufacture there at the cheapest cost and in the first world crisis, as is the case with the pandemic, it has been demonstrated that the European Union's health security and logistical security was dependent on China. And to this day, we also depend on them for our masks...

Let's not talk about medicines anymore, shall we? This MEDAWEEK is going to help a lot in making the Euro-Mediterranean area a zone of economic integration. We could see the light of day...

The slogan chosen for this occasion is "Time to act, stronger together". Is this an allusion to the coronavirus

I think it is a whole because the European Union has major internal problems: the Brexit, the rise of populism, anti-European growth, immigration... This immigration crosses the Mediterranean, or the Atlantic, but above all the Mediterranean.

The pandemic has shown that there are no borders. This can happen anywhere. But also, from an economic point of view, the European Union is an old continent, 70% of trade is between Europeans and its growth is stagnant. 

It needs to expand abroad through large markets. And today, the Mediterranean not only as a region but also as a platform towards sub-Saharan Africa could create a major "Europe-Mediterranean-Africa" axis, with 1.8 billion people capable of competing in this global world with China and even with the United States if their project for the Americas finally sees the light of day.

I think it's important that we have projects that are exciting, and this MEDAWEEK project has been going on for 25 years. The situation of what has happened in recent years since the financial crisis, the Arab springs and everything that has happened in Syria, Libya, etc. What happens in the south impacts on the north. When an industry such as tourism, which is the leading industry in the Mediterranean whether in the south or the north, is paralysed by the pandemic we see how it impacts on all the economies of the region.

We need to expand and broaden our horizons, diversify our economies and create a new one based not only on the tourism monoculture, which we need to invest in, but we can make a green revolution, a digital revolution, and also strengthen the economies of the sea, which are key to the growth of the countries of southern Europe, as well as those of the southern Mediterranean.

Anwar Zibaoui

Javier Fernández Arribas, director of the magazine Atalayar, wanted to intervene in the programme to ask Zibaoui a question. "On this occasion, when the coronavirus is preventing the question of presence, how would you encourage business people to follow the MEDAWEEK

This year it will be much easier because it will be online, there will only be a few face-to-face sessions. The online sessions will be open, there will be no capacity control as we used to do in the classroom. 

We have about 20 events in three days. We will play from the topic of digital transformation to startups. We will also touch on the whole issue of hotels and tourism and the trade fair and congress industry, we will make a commitment to the health industry in the Mediterranean.

We had planned to launch this forum before the pandemic and when it arrived we had a very important echo. But we are also going to hold the Africa forum, the Halal forum, and we will also hold the forum on industrial cooperation with a high Euro-Mediterranean value.

This is going to be done for the first time. We will bring the IMF, the Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction, the World Bank and the Islamic Bank to tell us about all the programmes they have for the private sector.

 We are also going to make a presentation on a United Nations agency for water in the Mediterranean. And we will present several initiatives. These are the most important events.

You know that last year, at a face-to-face level, we had almost 1,700 businesspeople who are decisive. They have very great decision-making power. With the online theme it will be easier for three times as many people to participate as we will be connected through a powerful platform and with television.

I understand and I believe that we are going to have a lot of participation, although I still believe that what we want is to get back to normal, for business people to network, to see each other, to talk to each other, because unfortunately the issue of international trade online serves very little purpose.

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