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Mission completed for the 1st edition of the Young Mediterranean Leaders Forum (YML)
| Big success for the 1st edition of the Young Mediterranean Leaders Forum |
In partnership with the Club XXI ème siècle and Regards, the Invest in Med programme organised a workshop focused on ‘the implication of the Mediterranean diasporas into the economic development of their countries of origin’. This workshop took place on the 18th of October 2008 in Tunis as part of the Young Mediterranean Leaders Forum (YML).
From Thursday 16th of October to Saturday 18th of October 2008, this first edition gathered 250 "young leaders" from Mediterranean countries. Most participants were top executives, presidents of associations or political figures. YML members share a common goal: to turn the Mediterranean into a space of economic solidarity and shared prosperity.
Several key figures such as former French Minister of Foreign Affairs Hubert Védrine, the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank Philippe de Fontaine Vive, the French demographer Emmanuel Todd or former Prime Minister of Mauritania Zine Ould Zidane attended the 3-day event. They came to discuss with the participants on several issues such as the recently born Union for the Mediterranean (UpM) or the economic ties between the two rims of the Mediterranean.
Organised by ANIMA Investment Network within the framework of the Invest in Med programme, the diaspora-focused workshop put forward 6 "young leaders" from Southern Mediterranean diaspora. The workshop was introduced by Mrs Laïla Sbiti (President of ANIMA Investment Network) and moderated by Mr. Pierre Distinguin (International Director of France-based Provence Promotion). Each speaker presented his/her indivicual experience as an expatriate returning to invest in his/her country of origin.
Around the table were Mr. Nassim Kerdjouj (Net Skills - Algeria), Mr. Antoine Abou-Samra (Bader Young Entrepreneurs Program – Lebanon), Mr. Samir Hulileh (CEO PADICO – Palestine), Mr. Hassan Zargouni (ATUGE – Tunisia), and Mrs. Sihame Arbib (Link World Vision – Morocco).
They exposed the difficulties encountered when they returned in their country of origin, at the administrative level (fiscal status, lack of schools for children), at the economic level (lower wages in countries of North Africa and the Middle East) and at the cultural level (risk of misunderstanding between local populations and former expatriates).
Several proposals were put forward during the workshop such as the idea to create a Mediterranean ‘Facebook’ to identify and target members of the diaspora, or the initiative to develop a Mediterranean diaspora observatory aimed at identifying success stories of members of Mediterranean diaspora. These proposals (endorsed by ANIMA, GTZ and Provence Promotion) will be further discussed, studied and implemented within the framework of the Invest in Med programme.
A private meeting between ANDI (Algeria), FIPA (Tunisia), Bader (Lebanon), GTZ (Germany), Provence Promotion (France) and ANIMA (France) took place at the end of the workshop to plan future actions to be undertaken on the issue of Mediterranean diaspora.
Marseille
17-10-2008
Redaction
Anima
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