First Summit of African and Euro-Mediterranean Youth at Euromed University of Fes: Euro-Mediterranean and Transatlantic Outreach: Meeting Tomorrow's Challenges Together

Parliament Headquarters, February 14, 2024

Students from the Université Euromed de Fès organized a study day on February 14, 2024, at the headquarters of the Moroccan Parliament, under the supervision of the Alliance of Civilizations Chair (a Chair established in partnership with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations). This day, which saw participation from students from over twenty countries, aimed to address important and diverse topics.

This unprecedented meeting was organized on the sidelines of the Summit of Presidents of Parliaments and the 17th Session of Parliamentarians of the Union for the Mediterranean.

It provided these students with an excellent opportunity to highlight Moroccan exceptionalism, particularly the Kingdom's efforts, under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, to institutionalize at the highest level relations of exchange and regional integration driven by the values of sharing.

Furthermore, the participation of these students in such an event gave them the chance to testify to the role of the Université Euromed de Fès, and of Moroccan universities in general, in training their peers from Africa and elsewhere, who are thus considered ambassadors of the Kingdom of Morocco in their home countries.

Within this framework, various fields of expertise were addressed, including transatlantic openness, energy ethics, sustainable development, the circular economy, green innovations, and transportation. Issues related to the environment, territories, and the motility and mobility of goods and people were also discussed, among others, which constitute the cement of co-development on an African scale.

The aspect of major challenges was also central to the interventions and exchanges, notably including: climate change, the scarcity of resources such as drinking water, pollution, human population growth, and the degradation of biodiversity. Environmental issues are not only varied but also increasingly complex.

Moreover, highlighting the ongoing paradigm shift towards Industry 5.0 and involving human, economic, and societal dimensions, the invention of programmatic, technological, and algorithmic solutions was considered with an account of scientific and technical progress. Contemporary problems related to the complex interactions and interfaces between natural, built, urban, peri-urban, and interurban environments were also the subject of in-depth reflection by the young students within a systemic vision.

The day took the form of plenary sessions and presentations. It culminated in the formulation of several recommendations, which were presented and adopted by the young students. These formed the foundation of the Call for the Future made by the students of the Université Euromed de Fès, which was to be read on February 16, 2024, during the 8th Summit of Presidents of Parliaments and the 17th Session of Parliamentarians of the Union for the Mediterranean.

Following the opening session of this summit, Mr. Rachid Taleb Alami, President of the House of Representatives, welcomed the participants in the parliament's main plenary hall and kindly presented the functional model of the House of Representatives to the students of the Université Euromed de Fès.