The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) participated at the Global Parliamentary Conference of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, held in Washington on 16-17 April 2018. The PAM delegation was composed of Hon. Pedro Roque (PAM President), Sen. Lhou Lmarbouh (President of PAM 2nd Standing Committee) and Amb. Sergio Piazzi (PAM Secretary General).
For PAM, the Conference was an opportunity to share its strategy in support of economic growth and integration in the Mediterranean region. During his statement, President Roque informed the participants about the most recent PAM activities in this sector, notably the organization of a series of parliamentary events aimed at providing MPs with specific recommendations to support trade facilitation and investments in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The first event dedicated to this topic was held in October 2017 in Rabat, Morocco, organized in cooperation with the World Trade Cooperation and hosted by the Parliament of Morocco. PAM and WTO will continue on this path and will co-organize a similar event on 12-13 July in Belgrade, which will focus on the area of Western Balkans and will tackle the benefits of accession to WTO and the importance of regional economic areas.
PAM President also reiterated PAM’s intention to strengthen its cooperation with the relevant international financial institutions in order to ensure that proper funding and ambitious infrastructure and development projects will be undertaken for the benefit of the Mediterranean region and its citizens. All IFIs that operate in the region will be associated to the Belgrade event in order to provide PAM MPs with the best and most updated information on this crucial sector for the Mediterranean basin.
In his conclusions, Hon. Roque underlined the importance of the contribution of the WB and IMF to PAM’s work, wished for a structured cooperation would be formalized in the near future and reiterated PAM’s readiness to this extent.
The conference was an excellent opportunity for bilateral meetings with, among others, the President of the IPU, the Chairs of the WB Parliamentary Network and its MENA chapter, and representatives of the research and academic sectors.