Newsletter – n°20 – March 2013

The world at a glance

Marseille hosted three important events during the first week of April: the Forum of local and regional authorities from the Mediterranean, organised by the Mediterranean Committee of UCLG, the city of Marseille and the Region Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur; the Mediterranean Forum of the Anna Lindh Foundation; and the meeting of the Presidents of parliaments of countries member of the Union for the Mediterranean.  

The simultaneity of the three events shows the willingness for dialogue and partnership between the political representatives and the different actors involved in the region.

The Mediterranean region has major advantages, such as a young and dynamic population, natural and agricultural resources, great touristic potential, and important cultural wealth. However, the region is also held back by conflicts, the lack of integration of sub-regions such as the Maghreb, a high unemployment rate, especially for young people (an estimate of 5 million jobs have to be created annually in order to absorb the demographic growth of the region), and the increasing scarcity of certain resources, such as water.  

To this, one must add the economic crisis touching the countries in the North and the political crisis destabilising certain countries in the South.

Faced with an international community in search of solutions to the socio-economic crises and conflicts, the elected representatives gathered for two days in Marseille stated their conviction that better answers can be found to the many challenges on a macro-regional scale.

In the declaration adopted at the end of the Forum, supported inter alia by Mohammed Boudra, President of the Taza-Al Hoceima-Taounate Regional Council (Morocco) and newly elected President of the Political Council of the Mediterranean Commission of UCLG, the local and regional elected representatives called for “greater convergence of the policies implemented by the main donors in the Mediterranean”. They also expressed their wish that “the revision of the Millennium Development Goals and the creation of the Sustainable Development Objectives by 2015 should be the occasion to establish a specific policy for the Mediterranean”.

The assessment of the two days and the declaration can be found on the website of the Mediterranean Commission of UCLG.