PAM‘s action-oriented legislative voice at the two outstanding Mediterranean Economic Conferences in November

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MEDIA INFORMATION: 66/2012
ISSUED ON: 12/11/2012

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) continues to carry its weight at the regional level through its support, promotion and contribution to the two major economic events in November for the Euro-Mediterranean region, taking place in Malta and Tunisia.

PAM will be addressing the opening session of the “MIM Mediterranean Economic Forum 2012”, to be held on 14-15 November and organized by the Malta Institute of Management. PAM Secretary General will present an overview of PAMs initiatives in the economic, financial and social sectors under the theme The Mediterranean at its Crossroads”, with particular emphasis on the process of the emerging democracies in the MENA region and the economic recession of the countries on the Northern shores of the Mediterranean. Major topics will include the economic climate change in post Arab Spring Revolutions and Southern European StatesTrade and Foreign Direct Investment activity during the current economic turmoil.

Furthermore, on the personal invitation of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Director General, H.E. Kandeh K. Yumkella, PAM will also play a key role at the forthcoming international Conference on Productive Work for Youth in Tunisia and the MENA Region”, to be held in Tunisia on 28-29 November. PAM will animate a dedicated meeting between entrepreneurs and MPs from the region. This session will be led by PAM MPs, who will engage in a constructive dialogue with the entrepreneurs, in order to identify specific issues where parliamentary action at national and regional level is required for a concrete approach to job creation.

The conference will build, inter alia, on the following topics: MSME creation and development as a solution to youth unemployment; MSME financing: innovative forms of funding for young entrepreneurs; value-chain development programmes; Road Map for productive work for youth.

PAM parliamentarians are particularly committed to the exceptional circumstances that at this moment characterize the area. To this effect the Assembly has established, within its 2nd Standing Committee, the Panel for Trade and Investments in the Mediterranean. It is not only PAMs instrument for a concerted legislative action, but has also become the platform of reference for the region to debate issues concerning sustainable development, trade facilitation, production initiatives, job creation, and investments. The main objective is to react to the current impasse and lay the foundations for a systematic coordinated effort between all the public and private stakeholders.

As part of the Panels activities, PAM has also dedicated a specific sectoral group to energy issues through which it has spearheaded a roadmap for the development, adoption and accessibility of alternative sources of energy in the region, in close cooperation with the Association of Mediterranean Energy Regulators for Electricity and Gas (MEDREG) and the Association of Mediterranean Transmission Systems Operators (Med-Tso).

On the occasion of the 14th General Assembly of MEDREG (Lisbon, Portugal, 15 November, 2012), PAM Vice President, Hon. Maria Conceição Pereira (Portugal), will address the opening session on the contribution of the regions parliaments towards the creation of a Mediterranean Energy Community, whose implementation has been entrusted to PAM. In the last few months, the Assembly has managed to engage public and private institutions in a series of high level meetings on the matter, among which, the parliamentary hearing in Ouarzazate, Morocco, on Energy Challenges in the Euro-Mediterranean Region”, organized in conjunction with the House of Councilors, under the patronage of H.M. Mohammed VI, King of Morocco.

PAMs institutional role in the region has become a sine qua non to all development issues since, through its strategic actions and vision, it has transformed the parliamentary forum into a wider participative sphere in which, the private sector has found a space where to exchange and share views, highlight obstacles and dissect challenges for both the short and long term solutions within the Mediterranean region. To this end, the United Nations, through its Economic Productive Cluster, has invited PAM to hold the second joint UN-PAM Economic Forum for the Mediterranean, in mid February 2013, at the UN European Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

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