The High level Conference Harnessing Trade for Growth in the Mediterranean organized by UNECE in cooperation with UNCTAD and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) Panel on Trade and Investment in the Mediterranean, will gather over 200 participants from the political, parliamentary and private financial and economic sectors in Geneva on 30-31 May, 2013.
The Conference, in this particular period of the widespread financial crisis across the Euro-Mediterranean region, will address the definition of specific policies and operational instruments to stimulate growth, and to adopt tailored recommendations in support of trade facilitation, SMEs, infrastructure, investments, access to credit, and most importantly job creation in the Mediterranean.
The floor will be taken by representatives of governments, MPs, entrepreneurs, investment promotion agencies and academics from the Mediterranean basin and from the UN member states, together with experts of the major international and regional financial institutions.
“The interest shown in this event by the major public and private stakeholders is a clear indication of the need for a platform where experiences, proposals and best practices are shared across institutions and borders alike”, PAM President, Sen. Francesco Amoruso commented.
PAM has spearheaded, through the Panel, the collaboration between parliaments and the private sector in order to ensure convergence of the positions of both sides. The outcome of this dialogue is meant to address the implementation of strategic actions which focus on the real needs to assist the recovery of economies and a return to a stable job market, particularly for youths. Suffice it to say that, in the next ten years, the MENA region alone will need to create 75 million jobs in line with forecasted demographic trends.
“The challenges ahead of us are of an extraordinary level, but we are confident that positive results are attainable if we manage to priorities the social dimension of the crisis and secure a balance on the scale between the financial sector and the sustainable development of our citizens”, Sergio Piazzi, PAM Secretary General said.
Sen. Francesco Amoruso, PAM President, has stressed on various occasions that the joint PAM/UN Conference in Geneva, is only one among a number of events that PAM organizes on a regular basis with the UN System, and the Geneva Event will become a biannual appointment, where strategies are updated according to the real impact experienced on the ground by legislators, financial and investment institutions, SMEs and entrepreneurship coming from three continents.
In Geneva, the Agenda includes the following main topics: The Economic Crisis in the Euro-Mediterranean Region in a Global Perspective; Revitalizing Trade; Developing Transport; Infrastructure; Increasing Investment; Strengthening Energy Systems; Improving Productive Capacity and Risk Management in Trade.