The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) signed a strategic bilateral agreement focusing on a number of substantive areas with the aim to promote lasting, sustainable and inclusive growth in the Euro-Mediterranean region. PAM and OECD will continue co-operating by various means, including exchange and dissemination of information, joint events and analysis. Emphasis on the role of the PAM parliamentarians in the activities of the OECD’s Global Parliamentary Network and vice versa is also a key element of the agreement.
The agreement was signed by PAM President, Sen. Alia Bouran, and the OECD Secretary General, H.E. Aguel Gurría on the occasion of a PAM high level visit at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, on 28 May 2019. The PAM delegation also included Hon. Pedro Roque, PAM President Emeritus, Hon. Alain Perea, PAM Vice President, and Amb. Sergio Piazzi, PAM Secretary General.
President, Sen. Alia Bouran, while expressing her satisfaction and support to the agreement, also highlighted this important milestone in the long standing cooperation experience that PAM and OECD already enjoy. “The MoU paves the way for a more concrete, structured, and fruitful partnership for the future and will definitely strengthen our mutual contribution to each other’s programs, and more importantly it will serve as a basis for joint actions”, Sen. Bouran added.
The OECD Secretary General on his part recalled that in the current political and economic world environment co-operation is more crucial than ever and stressed that “the partnership between parliaments is a cornerstone for a multilateral approach to addressing the challenges of our time”.
PAM and OECD also shared the upcoming events on their respective agendas for the coming months. The OECD expressed great interest in the forthcoming special meeting of the PAM Economic Panel, to be held in collaboration with the Italian Parliament in Milan, in the first week of July, dedicated to “Alternative Capital Markets for economic growth in the Mediterranean. The critical role of parliamentarians”. The event shall serve as a workbench for PAM MPs to collectively establish sustainable and inclusive business ecosystems in order to facilitate the access to alternative sources of funding in the broader Euro-Mediterranean region. PAM is looking forward to the active contribution of the OECD to the conference in Milan, convinced that the agreement between the two organizations will trigger and facilitate mutual benefits and strategic interactions among economies and people of the Euro-Mediterranean region.
On his side, Secretary General Gurria handed to President Bouran a personal invitation to the Business-Government Summit and the MENA-OECD Initiative Steering Group meeting that will held next June in Tunis.
The OECD has stated that during the Business-Government Sum the views of parliamentarians would be appreciated, as the Summit will define common strategies to improve the business climate, promote domestic and international investment, and support opportunities for enterprises, with a particular focus on SMEs and young entrepreneurs.
On the other hand, the MENA-OECD Initiative Steering Group will engage in a strategic discussion about regional, social and economic priorities and the way firms and governments can leverage technology to fulfil the shared prosperity agenda. The discussions will also define future actions of the MENA-OECD Initiative at the regional and national level.
Moreover, OECD invited PAM to join the research programme on economic integration in the Mediterranean region being launched also with the participation of the Barcelona- based UfM Secretariat.