About 60 representatives of labour ministries in the UfM partner countries as well as representatives from European institutions attended the fifth meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) High Level Working Group on Employment and Labour (HLWG) that took place in Brussels, on April 14^th 2016.

The main purpose of the meeting was to prepare the third UfM Employment and Labour Ministerial Conference, which will take place in Jordan, on September 26^th – 27^th 2016.

Social partners from both shores of the Mediterranean strongly supported the UfM co-operation on employment and welcomed the upcoming Ministerial Conference. They underlined the relevance of social dialogue for the good design and governance of employment and social policies. They reiterated the need for strong social dialogue actors and institutions, and effective involvement of social partners in policy making, as the countries with well-functioning social dialogue systems were more resilient during the economic and financial crisis.

Participants of the HLWG underlined that the upcoming Ministerial Conference is an important opportunity to jointly address the challenges of employment, employability and decent work, in particular for youth. It will give a new impetus to the UfM cooperation on employment and labour and set out the priorities for the years to come.