The 12th edition of the Mediterranean Week of Economic Leaders (MedaWeek Barcelona), which has just taken place on November 21st, 22nd and 23rd, at Casa Llotja de Mar of Barcelona, has exceeded the expectations of participation this year, with more than 1500 participants – among which more than 80% were entrepreneurs, as well as the main international economic institutions, experts and representatives of the business economic world of more than 40 countries around the world.
During this edition, MedaWeek Barcelona has announced the nomination of Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar, President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Companies (CGEM) and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco, as the new President of the Advisory Council of the Mediterranean Week of Economic Leaders.
MedaWeek Barcelona, under the slogan “One Sea, three continents”, once again manifests its global Mediterranean vocation and consolidates itself as an international business platform between Europe, Africa and Asia, and highlights its vocation as an economic bridge for the whole world. The Mediterranean countries also have an African and Asiatic dimension, which we call the African Mediterranean, a fundamental space in the project of the new silk route BIS China. It is a non-integrated market with a high development potential of millions of inhabitants.
MedaWeek calls the Mediterranean governments to promote the Digital Agenda among their main priorities so that Mediterranean SMEs can benefit from special aid plans. The 60% of the Mediterranean population is made up of young people under 30 years old. The Mediterranean Digital and Innovation Summit that has just taken place within the framework of the MedaWeek Barcelona, has shown the great potential of this sector to promote and create millions of jobs throughout the Mediterranean. In this regard, it is estimated that the Digital and Innovation sector could create more than 10 million additional jobs in 2025.
Among the main results of this MedaWeek Barcelona, the Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME) announces the willingness to promote the creation of a fund for “Start-ups”. This will be part of the strategy that aims to promote the entrepreneurial spirit of young graduates, and especially among women graduates.
MedaWeek Barcelona also urges the new gas producing countries of the Eastern Mediterranean to promote cooperation strategies. In the same way that the trade of “olive oil” served to unite the people of the Mediterranean region in antiquity, the exploitation of new gas-offshore deposits on the coasts of the Mediterranean countries could be a fundamental engine for development and economic growth of the entire region. The existing gas on the seabeds of the Mediterranean Sea can help to unite the region. Walls cannot be built inside the Mediterranean Sea. The wealth and future development of the region goes through cooperation and union between all the countries of the two shores of the Mediterranean.
In addition, during the MedaWeek Barcelona, forums on the Blue Economy, the Halal Industry, the Maghreb, have been held and hundreds of regional meetings have been organized. It should be noted that within the framework of the MedaWeek, many Mediterranean European projects have been tackled, as EBSOMED and Inno Blue Growth, and several international organizations as ASCAME, Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (BUSINESSMED), the International Hotels and Restaurants Association (IHRA) and the Mediterranean Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA), have held meetings of their executives.
Likewise, MedaWeek Barcelona appeals to the hotel sector in favor of its union in order to search for sustainable solutions to face the great challenges presented by the new enterprises in the collaborative economy.
Finally, MedaWeek Barcelona within its strategy of opening up to the world as a Mediterranean regional business economic platform of reference for Europe, Africa and Asia, is also projected towards the American continent and announces that as a result of the agreement signed between ASCAME and the Chambers of Commerce of Brazil, will organize for the first time a great economic forum that will bring together the Mediterranean and American economic world, in the city of Sao Paulo (Brazil), in the year 2020.