The Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (BUSINESSMED) held, on 22 February in Rome, at Confindustria Headquarters, its first Management Committee for 2018 in the presence of an important delegation of employers’ organizations’ representatives coming from the Euro-Mediterranean Region (Algeria, Egypt, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Palestine, Portugal, Syria and Tunisia).

The meeting was an opportunity for the members of the Organization to take stock of the ongoing activities and future perspectives evolution with a focus on European projects, with the aim of placing these actions in a regional context.

During his opening speech, the President of Confindustria, Mr. Vincenzo Boccia, stressed that the future of Mediterranean trade and integration requires greater involvement of the private sector and that in this context, the role of employers’ organizations will be crucial to support companies and encourage them to be involved in new cooperation projects.

Strongly convinced of the great potential for cooperation among BUSINESSMED members, he then reiterated CONFINDUSTRIA’s willingness to actively engage in strengthening Euro-Mediterranean partnerships, also proposing to add the subject of post-Cotonou to the agenda of the next BUSINESSMED’s meetings.

During the committee, the Euro-Mediterranean Employers’ Confederations have shown a particular interest towards SOLiD project, and expressed their wish to replicate the good practices acquired by the three target countries by extending it to other countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. Besides sharing his interest towards the project with the committee, Mr El Sayed Torky, Senior Advisor of FEI, added that Egypt recognises the importance of having a social dialogue since five years. Similarly, Mr. Odeh Shehadeh, Secretary-General of PFI, intervened to know whether other countries can benefit from the project. In the same context, during his intervention, Mr. Arthur Muscat, Vice-President of MEA, recalled that Malta has been working in the field of the social dialogue for more than 20 years now where unions, employers, the government and civil society have been actively involved. He insisted that the adoption of a social dialogue is indeed very difficult; but that it is of a huge importance and the best practices in this domain are to be shared. Moreover, Mr. André Magrinho, Vice-President of Fundaçao AIP, expressed the necessity to adopt renewed agenda for social dialogue, especially when considering the changes linked to the 4th industrial revolution with its emphasis on new digital technologies.

The meeting provided also preliminary information on EBSO Med, “Enhancing Business Support Organisations and Business Networks in the Southern Neighbourhood “, a new 4-year project co-financed by the European Commission, led by BUSINESSMED.

The Committee was preceded by a private visit between Confindustria President, Mr. Vincenzo Boccia, and BUSINESSMED President, Mrs. Saida Neghza, in the presence of BUSINESSMED Secretary General Mrs. Jihen Boutiba, the Vice President for Internationalization of Confindustria, Mrs. Licia Mattioli, the Confindustria General Director, Marcella Panucci, the Director of International Relations,  Mrs. Camilla Cionini Visani,  and several  representatives of the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises.

In conclusion of the works of the management committee, a meeting between President Neghza and the President of the Confindustria Assafrica & Mediterraneo, Mr. Giovanni Ottati, was arranged.

BUSINESSMED expresses its gratitude to its members who participated actively in the Committee with concrete proposals and to Confindustria for the support provided in the different organization phases of this initiative.