Annual Conference 2022: Towards more Social Justice and Inclusiveness in the Mediterranean
Welcome
Labelled as “Towards more social justice and inclusiveness in the Mediterranean”, the 2022 EuroMeSCo Annual Conference took the form of four in-person country events in Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia and Egypt, and a closing event in Brussels.
These events offered a platform for further discussions on the implementation of the New Agenda for the Mediterranean focusing on the theme of Social Justice and Inclusiveness and involved mixed groups of representatives from think tanks, academic institutions, civil society organisations, and business community representatives, as well as EU and government officials.
Within the framework of the project EuroMeSCo: Connecting the Dots, co-funded by the European Union and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), these country events were organised in collaboration with some of the partners of its Consortium.
Agenda
Jordan
June 27th - 28th · 2022
Egypt
October 19th · 2022
Belgium
November 30th · 2022



Dimitris DIMITRIADIS. REX President, European Economic and Social Committee – EESC
Amb. Senén FLORENSA. Executive President of the European Institute of the Mediterranean – IEMed
Henrike TRAUTMANN. Acting Director, Neighbourhood South and Turkey, Directorate-Genera for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, DG NEAR, European Commission
Katarina IVANKOVIC-KNEZEVIC. Director, Social Rights and Inclusion, Directorate General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion – DG EMPL D, European Commission

Presentation of takeaways from the Country Events.
Moderation: Roger ALBINYANA. Managing Director, European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed).
Speakers:
Morocco. Hamza SAOUDI (Policy Center for the New South – PCNS):
Youth and women’s inclusion in the labour market: challenges and opportunities for the Mediterranean region
Jordan. Majd AL NABER (West Asia North Africa Institute – WANA):
Interlinkages between social justice and sustainable development
Tunisia. Zied BOUSSEN (Arab Reform Initiative – ARI):
Addressing vulnerabilities, mainstreaming inclusiveness in public policy reforms
Egypt. Rabha ALLAM (Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies – ACPSS):
Towards more Social Justice and Inclusiveness in Egypt
Policy perspectives from the European Commission, the European External Action Service and the Union for the Mediterranean:
Abdelkader EL KHISSASSI. Deputy Secretary General, Economic Development and Employment, Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean – UfM.
Ingrid SCHWAIGER. Director, Social Rights and Inclusion, Directorate General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion DG EMPL D, European Commission.
Beatriz SALVADOR GARCIA. Deputy Head of Division, Regional Affairs, Middle East and North Africa, European External Action Service.


Promoting more inclusive and fair societies not only requires improving the situation of specific groups, but also acting against the impunity of others and establishing strong accountability mechanisms. Corruption is a major cause of the lack of trust of citizens in their system. It deprives the economy of major resources that could be used for the benefit of all and in some countries, it largely explains the shortcomings of public services. In its New Agenda for the Mediterranean, the EU renewed its commitment to the rule of law, democracy and good governance as the bedrock for stable fair, inclusive and prosperous societies. The promotion of modern, efficient and accountable public institutions and policies and the fight against corruption are key priorities for the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. These multistakeholder dialogue platforms will analyse anti-corruption policies, accountability mechanisms and public administration reforms to boost predictability, transparency, and accountability.

The Business Platform will look into the opportunities private sector cooperation offers to promote business integrity and transparency.
Moderation: Emmanuel COHEN-HADRIA. Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Policies Department, EuroMeSCo, European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed).
Setting the Scene:
Alain BIFANI. Founding president, Lebanese Citizen Foundation.
Aymen BELGACEM. Economist, International Monetary Fund.* Informality, Development and the Business Cycle in North Africa. Takeaways from an IMF recent publication.
Testimonials:
Ahmed BASTAWY. Managing Director, ICEALEX
Jihen BOUTIBA. Director General, BUSINESSMED
Arkan EL-SEBLANI. Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP Arab States
Hussam HAWWA. Chief Executive Officer, Difaf Sal
Diane PALLEZ. Policy Analyst, Anti-corruption, Middle East and Africa Division, Global Relations Secretariat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Debate

The Civil Society Platform will explore the role of civil society in monitoring the implementation of reforms and in ensuring better service delivery, accountability and transparency.
Moderation: Jenny GILBERT. Project Manager, EuroMeSCo, Euro-Mediterranean Policies Department, European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed).
Setting the Scene:
Carole ALSHARABATI. Founder and Member, Sakker El Dekkene.
Testimonials:
Achref AOUADI. Founder and former President, iWatch
Karim BELHAJ AISSA. Regional Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, UNCAC Coalition
Abdelaziz NOUAYDI. Secretary General, Transparency Maroc
Shereen TALAAT. Co-Director MENA, Arab Watch Coalition (AWC)
Lora UJKAJ. Policy Officer, Rule of Law, Governance and Security, Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Operations, DG NEAR A2, European Commission
Debate

Videos
Past Conferences
2021
Setting the New Agenda for the New Mediterranean in Motion
2019
Civil Society and Social Movements in the Euro-Mediterranean Region
2018
Changing Euro-Mediterranean Lenses
2017
Confronting violent extremism in the euro-mediterranean region
Press
Media information
Members of the press are invited to cover EuroMeSCo Annual Conference. Registration for coverage is required. To register, ask for more information or request an interview, please get in contact with the IEMed Press Office (contact below)
Jordi Bertran
Jefe de prensa / Press Officer
jbertran@iemed.org
T +34 932 449 854/0 | Mb +34 647 333 030
The Twitter hashtag for the event will be #euromesco2022
Ana López
Events and Dialogue Officer of the EuroMeSco Project
alopez@iemed.org
T +34 932 449 850
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