After the successful 2021 WestMED Stakeholder Conference in Rome and the 2022 Hackathons on project development in Malta, we invite you to the 2023 edition of the WestMED Stakeholder Conference.

The Conference will be held on Thursday, 22 June 2023 in Malta. The event is open to all stakeholders that are contributing to improve the sustainable blue economy in the region.

So, whether you are a business owner, an entrepreneur, a scientist, an investor, a lecturer, a local or regional authority or a policy maker, this will be a day for you.  Learn the latest developments, meet new inspirational people, and consult the (national) blue economy experts from the WestMED Initiative in-person.

This year’s focus will be on the four main thematic areas that the WestMED Initiative actively supports:  Sustainable Aquaculture, Green Shipping and Ports, Maritime Clusters and Marine Spatial Planning.

We will share with you the results achieved so far and discuss the challenges that lie ahead.

The format will be interactive. Based on your level of expertise, you can both contribute to the discussion or ask fellow experts to help you in your activities.

Next to this, we plan to give you the latest updates and insights into the most relevant funding opportunities for your project ideas.

As a bonus, we are looking at the possibility of including a unique on-site visit, to learn from success stories on blue economy development in Malta.

The Stakeholder Conference will be followed by an (invitation only) official Ministerial meeting on June 23. On this occasion, Ministers from the 10 member countries will sign a new Ministerial Declaration with a commitment to reconfirm and streamline priorities for boosting the blue economy in the Mediterranean region.

For more information and registration  Visit the conference 2023 page

The WestMED Initiative has received a new domain name for all its communications: westmed-initiative.ec.europa.eu.

It means that both the website, as well as the email addresses have changed. The website can now be accessed through: https://westmed-initiative.ec.europa.eu

All emails will receive the @westmed-initiative.ec.europa.eu extension. So the new email for Algeria for instance is now: algeria@westmed-initiative.ec.europa.eu

Below you will find an overview of all new email addresses

The new  domain name  is the official domain for the  European Commission. It meant that the website had to undergo a major transformation in order to comply with the EC standards which relate to elements such as accessibility, security and privacy. At the same time, also some pages have been redesigned to be more user friendly.

At the backend, the website servers have also been updated to comply with strict security standards as required by the EC.

Here is a list of all new email addresses:

Emails sent to the old email address will be forwarded for a period of 6 months until June 30, 2023.

In 2023, Mauritania will co-chair the WestMED Steering Committee along with Malta in accordance with the principle of rotation among the participating WestMED countries (France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Malta, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania).

The Mauritanian Co-Presidency will keep supporting the six priorities agreed by the countries in 2018 on the common roadmap for the development of a sustainable blue economy:

• maritime safety and fight against marine pollution,
• maritime cluster development,
• skills development and circulation,
• sustainable consumption and production,
• biodiversity and marine habitat conservation and restoration
• Development of coastal communities  and sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.

At national level, Mauritania has set ambitious targets on blue economy, which includes: the promotion of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, the development of a maritime cluster that brings together all the actors of the sea, development of maritime transport and development of Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP). These topics are already included in the priorities of the new strategy for the sector in Mauritania and are at the heart of the missions of two new agencies created within the department, namely the Agency for Maritime Affairs and the Agency for Inland Fisheries and Fish Farming.

In addition, the Mauritanian National Hub along with Tunisia play an important coordination role in the WestMED technical group on Maritime Clusters Alliance, ensuring and facilitating the cooperation within South-South and also North-South through actions, partnerships and projects.

Brussels, January 26, 2022. During the Hackathon organised by the WestMED Assistance Mechanism in Malta on June 30th 2022 and a couple of meetings under MSPMED project, the relevant stakeholders discussed about the creation of an open Community of Practice for exchange on MSP in the framework of the WestMED Initiative and supported by CINEA and DG MARE.

In the Mediterranean, there are many policy drivers for the implementation of Maritime/Marine Spatial Planning at regional, sub-regional and national levels. These include the MSP Directive implementation for the European Union Member States, the Ministerial declaration on Blue Economy of the Union for the Mediterranean and the Conceptual Framework for MSP developed by UNEP/MAP promoting a common approach to MSP as a key process for planning and managing the marine space in line with the provisions of the ICZM Protocol. Still, the MSPglobal pilot project in the Western Mediterranean Sea promoted by UNESCO-IOC and the European Commission allowed the creation of a network of experts and the publication of specific technical reports and recommendations.

Given the existing policy framework and the broader political will to commonly work on MSP, there is a shared interest to set an MSP Community of Practice in the Mediterranean, in the framework of the WestMED Initiative. The MED-MSP-CoP will be initially focused on the Western Mediterranean, being however open to experts and observers from the whole Mediterranean..

The main objective of the MED-MSP-CoP is to establish a permanent communication and dialogue across borders between experts on MSP (i.e. planners, technical experts, researchers), and to exchange knowledge and relevant experiences in the region, so as to reach a shared perspective on topics of common interest on MSP and enhance the cooperation between the north and the south of the Mediterranean.

On January 26, 2023, CINEA and DG MARE officially launched the Community of Practice during the kick-off meeting in Brussels where the experts discussed the structure and the action plan for the next year.

Thanos Smanis, WestMED expert and member of the MSP Assistance Mechanism, highlights “the instant willingness by MSP experts to mobilise and establish a Community of Practice on MSP for the MED, for joint dialogue and cooperation, demonstrates the shared perception that this will significantly support the creation of a regional framework and vision whereby all stakeholders will be needed.”

Next to the the Community of Practice on MSP, three technical-/ work groups have been formed under the WestMED Initiative;  Sustainable Transport-Green Shipping, the AquaWEST technical group on aquaculture and the Maritime Clusters Alliance.

More information on the Community of Practice on Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) for the Mediterranean : https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/news-events/news/two-days-key-developments-maritime-spatial-planning-2023-01-25_en

Source: European commission

The Commission has adopted a report on the outcomes of the Western Mediterranean (WestMED) initiativeSearch for available translations of the preceding which has been in place for 5 years. Since 2017, five EU Member States (France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Malta), and five southern partner countries (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) have worked together on their shared interest for the Mediterranean around three goals: increase maritime safety and security, promote sustainable blue economy, growth and jobs, and preserve ecosystems and biodiversity. The WestMED initiative has proved to be a useful intergovernmental platform for promoting sustainable blue economy sectors across the Western Mediterranean. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the functioning and governance of the initiative, as most meetings had to be virtual. Nevertheless, great progress was made, justifying its continuation.

Key outcomes of the WestMED initiative

The Commission drafted the report after careful analysis of the feedback received from the involved parties and an independent external review study.

The WestMED initiative has demonstrated progress and success since its creation. Although certain aspects of the initiative can be improved under its current governance, no major changes will be required, as it has been deemed a successful initiative that has

• served as a forum for dialogue and soft diplomacy
• led to an increase in cooperation and partnerships
• provided its members with project support (especially when applying for funding)
• enabled knowledge sharing and exchanges
• set-up technical working groups and alliances (on green shipping, sustainable aquaculture and clusters) and
• broadened its cooperation with other Mediterranean countries

Three recommendations for the future

Three recommendations were made in the report:

1. The initiative and its accompanying framework for action should remain as they are.
2. The WestMED Assistance Mechanism (operational, logistical and administrative support financed through the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund) should address issues such as increasing visibility; better use of project branding and improved metrics for evaluating the implementation of the initiative.
3. The priorities in relation to regional/international policies should be reviewed, taking account of the second Union for Mediterranean Ministerial Declaration on a sustainable blue economy.

Background

In April 2017, the Commission adopted the Communication on the Initiative for the sustainable development of the blue economy in the Western MediterraneanSearch for available translations of the preceding link (‘WestMED initiative’ or ‘the initiative’) along with its framework for action. The initiative was formally endorsed in November the same year by the ten participating countries: five EU Member States (France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Malta), and five southern partner countries (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia). A number of priorities and targeted actions were set, including  coastguard functions cooperation, maritime safety and response to marine pollution rescue, strategic research and innovation, maritime clusters development, skills development and circulation, maritime spatial planning, biodiversity and marine habitat conservation, sustainable fisheries and coastal community development.

The initiative is a direct outcome of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Declaration on the Blue EconomySearch for available translations of the preceding link adopted at the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) conference held in November 2015. The initiative also builds on years of ‘5+5 Dialogue’ between the ten participating countries.

The Commission had an obligation to report on the implementation five years after the launch of the WestMED initiative.

Next steps

Following the presentation to the Council and European Parliament, this report will be presented at the Ministerial meeting of the WestMED in 2023, in Malta. During this meeting, the countries can choose to reconfirm or update the priorities included in the current 2017 framework for action.

More information

Report on the implementation of the Western Mediterranean initiative in all official EU languages