Sommet Des Deux Rives

“The Summit will seek to generate new momentum in the Western Mediterranean through an inclusive and open agenda that gives an important role to the region’s particularly active civil society: young people, entrepreneurs, academics, artists, intellectuals and non-governmental actors representatives” Valletta Declaration of 18th January 2019, 15th Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the “5+5 Dialogue”.

The “Summit of the Two Shores, the Mediterranean Forum”, is a personal initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, who will host in Marseille, in June 2019, the Heads of State/Government from the 5+5 Western Mediterranean Dialogue countries, the European Union and Germany, Mediterranean organisations (Union for the Mediterranean and the Anna Lindh Foundation), international institutions (World Bank, European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and one hundred civil society representatives from the two shores of the Mediterranean. It was launched politically in Malta in January 2019 with the aim of defining “a different Mediterranean policy by learning from all of our successes and shortcomings and involving civil society to recreate a more inclusive Mediterranean policy”.

In preparation of the Summit, a far-reaching process is taking place from January to mid-June aimed at putting civil society at the heart of renewed regional cooperation, including five preparatory fora on the main themes of the Summit: ”Youth, Education and Mobility” (Malta); “Economy and Competitiveness” (Morocco); “Energies” (Algeria); ”Environment and Sustainable Development” (Italy); and “Culture, Media and Tourism” (France). The output will be central to a pre-Summit forum in Tunis on “Towards a common space of intercultural dialogue” with the participation of nominated civil society individuals from each of the associated countries (the “Call of the 100”).

Along with the political launch of the Summit, the Valletta Ministerial of 18th January 2019 also provided a political platform to reaffirm youth voice at the heart of the 5+5 Dialogue and a renewed agenda for Mediterranean cooperation. The adopted Ministerial declaration referenced a first initiative of its kind with the 5+5 Foreign Ministers and Young Mediterranean Voices, “connecting political leadership with bottom-up youth-led voices” and, in this way, putting youth voice at the centre of the agenda-setting for the Malta Forum for the Summit of the Two Shores.

There is equally a growing evidence-based and broader public consensus on investing in a generation in order to build a common future of peace and prosperity. The latest social research and public opinion polling on intercultural trends in the Mediterranean region exposes the centrality of education, mobility and youth-led initiatives to open up space for dialogue and promote conflict prevention; education and youth programmes received wide support from citizens surveyed in the 5+5 Member States as “the most efficient mechanisms to prevent and deal with conflict” (81% in European Mediterranean countries and 85% in North Africa). At the same time, multilateral institutions are backing new policies, from the UN’s first Youth Strategy and adopted Security Council Resolutions on “Youth, Peace and Security” to the EU putting youth at the heart of its renewed European Neighbourhood Policy, first Global Strategy and Africa-EU cooperation as well as through the EU Youth Strategy.