The Covid-19 pandemic weighted heavily on the global economy, that has been sliding into the deepest world recession in modern history. The global growth is expected to slump from 5.7% in 2021 to 2.9% in 2022, according to the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects.

As the economic community was fully committed in the recovery plans in order to build back from the pandemic spillover effects, it encountered the abrupt of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has roiled global food and energy markets, causing sharp inflationary spikes and shortages (Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly 30% of the world's wheat production).

Although no region will be spared by imported inflation and the global trade disruptions, the Russia’s war against Ukraine appears to harshly hit Europe’s economy at the forefront, given its dependence on Russian oil & natural gas. At least 1.5% of additional inflation is expected in 2022 which would erode household consumption and, together with the expected fall in business investment and exports, lower GDP growth by approximately one percentage point (Coface, 2022).

The aftermaths of Russia's invasion of Ukraine are especially acute in the Middle East and North Africa, whose primary effects are disrupted food supplies, spiking energy prices coupled with uncertain political reverberations due to the lack of MENA countries’ integration in the global value chains as well as its overreliance on external imports of basic commodities (e.g. Over 80% of Egypt's wheat stems from the two warring countries.

In light of the common challenges ahead of the Euro-Mediterranean countries, the rethinking of regional value chains became a top priority to restore struggling economies doubly hit by the massive economic shock of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the ramifications of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Main objectives of the Conference

Inscribed in the framework of a series of experts’ concertation in the strive towards a sustainable economic recovery in the South Mediterranean region, the upcoming conference hosted by the Regional Programme Political Dialogue South Mediterranean of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS PolDiMed) and the Union of the Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (BUSINESSMED), aims to:

• Provide a glimpse on the current economic and geopolitical context in the Euro-Mediterranean region
• Delve into the pre-requisites and the perspectives of economic cooperation between the EU and the South Mediterranean countries with a focus on trade-related infrastructure and logistics