BUSINESSMED (The Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises), represented by its Secretary General, Mrs. Jihen BOUTIBA MRAD, has participated in the fourth edition of the Civil Society Forum of Neighborhood South, organized by the European Commission (DG NEAR and DEVCO), the European External Action Service, the European Social and Economic Committee and the Committee of the Regions, in Brussels from 10 to 12 July 2017.

The forum, dealing with the theme “Resilience and youth“, was organized following the sessions held in Tunis from 25 to 27 April 2017, which brought together the regional civil society organizations (CSOs) on several issues, in particular migration, security and resilience, human rights and governance, reducing inequalities.

The opening speech was delivered by Mrs. Federica MOGHERINI, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission.

In the framework of this forum, Mrs. Jihen BOUTIBA MRAD, BUSINESSMED Secretary General, moderated the session “Reducing inequalities: support to SMEs and innovation” in the presence of key stakeholders from the Euro-Mediterranean region. In this context, she referred to the Euromed Invest project, which aims to promote business and private investment in the Euro-Mediterranean area.

In addition, during the session “Social Dialogue and Social Economy“, the Secretary General of BUSINESSMED mentioned the increasing need to promote social dialogue in the Southern Neighborhood and the fundamental role of SOLID project which currently works on three target countries, namely Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan.

This meeting was an opportunity for BUSINESSMED to exchange views with the main actors of civil society and representatives of the private sector on both sides of the Mediterranean. The recommendations emerged from this Forum will be discussed during the next Ministerial Conference.