On 28 January 2021, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) participated in the virtual meeting for the launch of the second edition of the “The South Days”, an initiative intended to reinforce trade and business synergies between the countries from the two shores of the Mediterranean.
The event has been promoted by the Italian Trade Agency (ICE) in partnership with the Italian Confederation of Industry – Confindustria (Campania, Caserta and Naples branches), and the Fondazione per la Sussidiarietà. The meeting gathered representatives from economic institutions and about a hundred Managing Directors and Senior Executives from industries, corporations and enterprises.
On this occasion, PAM was represented by Secretary General, Ambassador Sergio Piazzi.
The meeting opened with the announcement that ICE will join forces with the Italian Confederation of Industry, PAM and the Fondazione per la Sussidiarietà in the organisation of the second edition of the initiative “The South Days”. While the first edition, held in November 2019 under the auspices of PAM, was dedicated to Morocco, the new cycle of activities will focus on the economic relations with Tunisia.
As illustrated during the meeting, the initiative is designed to identify opportunities for the internationalisation of the Tunisian economic fabric and create new and diversified commercial exchanges between the two business communities. Towards this purpose, in the upcoming months, selected companies and industries from both countries will be clustered to conduct targeted capacity building activities and share know-how and best practices. The initiative will culminate with a major event, tentatively scheduled, in person, in October 2021, in which a Tunisian delegation of entrepreneurs will be hosted in Naples and Caserta to attend workshops, round tables, and bilateral meetings with the Italian counterparts.
In his intervention, Ambassador Piazzi emphasised the success of the first edition of the “South Days”. PAM will closely collaborate with the Tunisian and Italian national parliaments in order to guarantee full institutional support to the initiative, and promote far-reaching impacts on the economic growth and job creation in the region.
As remarked by PAM Secretary General, the reinforcement of economic cooperation among countries in the Mediterranean gained even more relevance in view of the severe consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on national economies.
In this perspective, Ambassador Piazzi highlighted the engagement of PAM in the harmonisation of national legislative frameworks of Member States to facilitate markets integration and promote investments and business relationships. In parallel, the Assembly supports the “Start Up Market Project”, a PAM initiative with the aim of improving access to alternative capital markets for SMEs and start-ups in the Euro-Mediterranean and Gulf regions.
The contribution to these kind of initiatives throughout its region reflects the commitment of PAM towards the advancement of economic progress, innovation, and sustainable development in the Mediterranean, as a key tool for the achievement of the strategic objectives of the Assembly itself.