The Economist’s Mediterranean Leadership Summit held in Malta on 28-29 April 2016, offered a unique platform to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) to advocate the role of the legislative power of the region’s national parliaments and the potential synergies, its parallel diplomacy network can achieve for the development of the Mediterranean.
PAM Secretary General, Amb. Sergio Piazzi, was invited to take the floor on the first day together with former Italian Prime Minister, Prof. Mario Monti, among other political and economic leaders from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, including CEOs of multinational corporations and institutions, namely the EBRD and the World Bank.
The Conference aimed at sharing expertise and insights on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead on issues that are shaping global developments in politics, regional security, finance, business, technology, energy, shipping and maritime trade, tourism, and more.
In his intervention, PAM Secretary General recalled the heterogeneous nature of the Mediterranean. ”There are many differences between the northern and the southern shores, but also within the northern region we can see that the economic figures vary from country to country”, Amb. Piazzi said.
All these differences appear to be an obstacle to integration and cooperation. In part they are, but they also represent an opportunity, because the Mediterranean countries must complement each other. “We have no choice. The southern countries can represent the market that the Mediterranean European countries need, in order to export their productive surplus, while northern countries are, for the youth of the MENA region, a great opportunity in terms of education, expertise and labour market” the PAM Secretary General added.
The “Great Mediterranean Area”, which also includes the Middle East and the Gulf countries, has an enormous potential, together with an extremely strategic position. In this context, the setting up of a Mediterranean Investment Bank, which PAM has been also promoting for years, would support specific projects, also at the Private-Public Partnership level, which would trigger the much needed momentum to seize the development opportunities in the region. This is required to secure socio-economic peace and reduce the fertile ground for violent extremism: a condition to achieve stability on the southern shore, a must to attract investments and the private sector.
The Mediterranean Leadership Summit in Malta comes at a crucial time, whereby the countries of the Mediterranean are called upon to share their leadership strategy and vision for stability, growth and competitiveness in the region.