First Summit of African and Euro-Mediterranean Youth of Euromed University of Fes: Euro-Mediterranean and Transatlantic Openness: Facing Tomorrow's Challenges Together

Seat of Parliament, February 14, 2024

Students of Euromed University of Fes organized, under the supervision of the Chair Alliance of Civilizations (Chair created in partnership with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations – United Nations), a study day on February 14, 2024 at the seat of the Moroccan Parliament. This day, which brought together students from more than twenty countries, addressed important and diverse topics.

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

She provided these students with an excellent opportunity to showcase Moroccan exceptionalism, in particular what the Kingdom is doing, under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, in order to institutionalize at the highest level relations of exchange and regional integration carried by the values of sharing.

Furthermore, the participation of these students in such an event gave them the opportunity to testify to the role of the Euromed University of Fes, and of the Moroccan university in general, in the education of their peers from Africa and elsewhere, who are thereby regarded as ambassadors of the Kingdom of Morocco Chérifien in their countries.

Within this framework, various areas of expertise were discussed, including transatlantic openness, energy ethics, sustainable development, the circular economy, green innovations and transportation. Questions of the environment, territories, motility and mobility of goods and people, etc., which constitute the cement of co-development at the African scale, were also addressed.

The component on major challenges was also at the center of interventions and exchanges, among which one can note: 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 toward Industry 5.0, which involves human, economic and societal dimensions, the invention of programmatic, technological and algorithmic solutions was envisaged with consideration 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 place in the form of plenary sessions and presentations, culminating in the formulation of several recommendations that were presented and adopted by the young students. They formed the basis of the Call of the Future made by the students of the Euromed University of Fes, which will 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 grand plenary hall of the parliament and kindly presented to the students of the Euromed University of Fes the functional model of the House of Representatives.