Euromed University of Fes present in Barcelona at the 2023 edition of the EIBMED conference

Representing the Université Euromed de Fès, Prof. Hafsa El Bekri, a teacher-researcher at the Euromed Business School of UEMF and co-director of the Research Institute for European, Mediterranean, and African Studies (RIEMAS), traveled to Barcelona to participate in the EIB MED conference held on July 10, 2023. This event was organized by EIB Global in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean. During this conference, Prof. El Bekri shared an interview with H.E. Ambassador Senén Florensa, President of the European Institute of the Mediterranean.

This edition of the EIB MED conference brought together several governmental, commercial, banking, and political partners from the Mediterranean region. In her address, Prof. Hafsa El Bekri highlighted three key messages. First, the need for nearshoring to bridge the regional integration gap in the Euro-Med region. Next, she highlighted the untapped potential of companies in the southern Mediterranean and the requirements for value chain design in the EuroMed region. To conclude her intervention, she addressed the necessity for the southern Mediterranean shore and, by extension, African countries to build their own narrative on climate change to avoid a kind of compromise between obtaining European EIB funds or seeking new partners with a more permissive approach.

This conference was an excellent opportunity to discuss new ways to revive the economy in the southern Mediterranean region and to discuss the cause of the energy shock, which has been particularly concerning lately.