The 4th UfM Social Dialogue Forum, which has been held virtually, focused on current and future priorities and challenges for social dialogue in the UfM countries, in the presence of experts from the UfM Secretariat, the European Commission, the International Labour Organisation and other regional organisations.

The Forum started with two parallel bilateral North-South sessions of the employers’ and workers’ organisations. During the two-day meeting, the 4th UfM Social Dialogue Forum gathered 117 participants who addressed the main key-issues of the Euro-Mediterranean Labour Market in times of Covid-19, the Role of Social Dialogue in addressing Migration and brain-drain issues, the multilateral cooperation as an engine for growth prospects as well as the state of play of Social Dialogue on and between the two shores of the Mediterranean and the way forward.

Since 2010, the UfM Social Dialogue Forum, in line with the European Treaty and the International Labour Organisation standards, intends to contribute actively and positively to the establishment and development of strong, independent and effective social dialogue, at the bi- and/or tripartite level in the UfM member countries.

At the end of the Forum, Social Partners from the Mediterranean Region have issued joint operational conclusions.

The 4th UfM Social dialogue Forum comes one year and a half after the signature in Cascais, Portugal – April 2019 of the « Charter for the promotion of social dialogue in the Southern Mediterranean: Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco », and as a step between the 4th UfM Ministerial meeting on Employment and Labour held in Cascais in 2019 and the next one planned for 2022.

As a follow-up, the UfM Secretariat will organize an event in 2021 fully dedicated to following up on the skilling aspect of Social Dialogue.