The Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (BUSINESSMED), represented by its General Secretary, Mrs. Jihen Boutiba Mrad, together with the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises (CGEA), represented by its General Secretary Mr. Mahfoudh Megateli, took part in the Sixth Meeting of the UfM High Level Working Group on Employment and Labour, on March 28th and 29th 2017 in Barcelona.

The Working Group Meeting focused on the concrete follow-up actions to implement the Ministerial Declaration adopted at the UfM Ministerial Conference at the Dead Sea on 27th September 2016. Over the two-day meeting, several representatives of DG Employ and DG Near as well as Euro-Mediterranean Social Partners and different regional Organizations such as GIZ, ETF and ILO instituted a constructive debate around four key-topics, namely: job creation and entrepreneurship, youth employability and employment services, transition from the informal to formal employment and social dialogue.

The 2nd day of the meeting focused on the promotion of the transition from the informal economy to formal employment as well as on the promotion of Social Dialogue across the region. In that perspective BUSINESSMED shared information, views and good practices on the state of play of the Social Dialogue, including strengthening the role and capacities of social partners. On the same occasion, after the video projection of SOLiD project, a general planning of future actions was provided.

The Meeting was an occasion to share concrete proposals on national initiatives in line with the UfM Ministerial Declaration and interest of their country to participate in transnational cooperation on the topics set out in the UfM Ministerial Declaration in the period 2017-2019.

Attached the Euro-Mediterranean Social Partner Declaration on Social Dialogue