Tunis hosts an international workshop to foster job creation through inclusive entrepreneurship 

The workshop aims to highlight the importance of the role of entrepreneurship in addressing the challenge of unemployment on the southern shore of the Mediterranean and supporting entrepreneurs. Includes sessions to analyze and debate the current situation of unemployment and job creation in the region, and share experiences and lessons learned from entrepreneurs, thus facilitating inclusive entrepreneurship.

Speakers come from diverse backgrounds and expertise, including entrepreneurs, industry experts, academics, professionals, Business Support organissations (BSOs) and International organisations.

The workshop is part of the regional Team Europe Initiative (TEI) on “Jobs through trade and investment in the southern neighbourhood”, which has the participation of the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Sweden. Spanish Cooperation has been involved in this TEI since its inception, as it is one of the most relevant challenges in the region, co-leading the third of the pillars of the TEI (inclusive entrepreneurship) with the European Commission. The TEI has gained special interest for Spanish Cooperation within the framework of the AECID’s new cooperation program with the Arab world, masar al’an / masar ahora.

FEMISE, Forum Euroméditerranéen des Instituts de Sciences Économiques (the Euro-Mediterranean Forum of Institutes of Economic Sciences), is a Euromed network established in Marseille, France in June 2005 as an NGO (under the French Law of 1901), following 8 years of activities. The network gathers more than 100 members of economic research institutes from the North and South of the Mediterranean, representing the 37 partners of the Barcelona Process and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).FEMISE is coordinated by the Economic Research Forum (ERF), Egypt. For more information, please visit: www.femise.org

The European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), founded in 1989, is a think and do tank specialised in Euro-Mediterranean relations. It provides policy-oriented and evidence-based research underpinned by a genuine Euromed multidimensional and inclusive approach. The aim of the IEMed, in accordance with the principles of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP), the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), is to stimulate reflection and action that contribute to mutual understanding, exchange and cooperation between the different Mediterranean countries, societies and cultures, and to promote the progressive construction of a space of peace and stability, shared prosperity and dialogue between cultures and civilisations in the Mediterranean. For more information, please visit: www. https://www.iemed.org/

BUSINESSMED is the main regional representative of the Private Sector that reflects the interest of 25 Confederations of Enterprises from States members of the Union for the Mediterranean – UfM. Since its creation in 2002, BUSINESSMED (Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises) is a privileged platform for multilateral cooperation for the benefit of 23 the employers’ confederations and more than 1’200’000 public and private affiliated companies by promoting foreign direct investments and socio-economic integration in the region. For more information, please visit: www.businessmed-umce.org

The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) is defined in the Cooperation Law as the state agency, attached to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation through the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, responsible for the promotion, programming, operational coordination, management and execution of public policies of Spanish cooperation for sustainable development, humanitarian action and education for sustainable development and global citizenship.

The AECID, together with its partners, works in more than 30 countries through its network of Spanish Cooperation Offices and is very present in the Arab world. It finances and executes development cooperation and humanitarian action projects in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. 

In May 2024, the AECID presented masar al’an / masar ahora, the new regional program with the Arab world, whose mission is to contribute to the triple social, ecological and economic transition in Arab countries, in response to their current economic, social and climatic challenges, and in particular generate opportunities for its youth; promoting alliances through greater regional cooperation and the promotion of practical solutions based on innovative knowledge. For more information, please visit: www.aecid.es