After three days of debates, project presentations, and collaborations, the meeting of the Euromed cities network came to an end this Friday, November 4th.
While the Mediterranean represents only a tiny part of the globe, it is nevertheless where the greatest number of challenges are concentrated. Economic exchange, migration, development, environment… More than 100 cities bordering the Mediterranean gathered in Nice to try to establish common collaborations and potential solutions.
Countries from North Africa such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt, as well as from the Middle East, notably Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel, along with the 22 non-European Union countries, all came with the aim of finding solutions but also proposing joint projects that would allow everyone to move forward together.
Some examples include issues like water, sustainable development, innovation, economy, funding… all these topics were discussed during this Euromed meeting. And it bore fruit, as it led to the signing of several contracts.
This morning, it was Christian Estrosi, President of the Metropolis, who signed an agreement with Sofiene Essid, representative of the Tunisian delegation, on a waste plant experiment program to be implemented in Sfax (in Tunisia).
Additionally, other main points were central to the debates, such as the project on the energy efficiency of public buildings to be implemented by 2020 and a European project for youth employment throughout the Mediterranean Basin.
This Euromed meeting thus seems to bear more fruit as the years go by. Although it was only the 4th meeting since its inception in 2000, Euromed seems to be becoming an essential event in Mediterranean endeavors.
