MEDays is an annual international forum which is organized every year in Tangier under the high patronage of King Mohammed VI, and is the main event organized by the Amadeus Institute. During several days, it confronts and brings together different readings, opinions and recommendations from high level international policymakers on essential topics and issues concerning the South. The Amadeus Institute organized the ninth edition of the international MEDays Forum from 7 to 10 December 2016.
Today the MEDays Forum is considered a strategic meeting for global players involved in the geostrategic, political, economic and social spheres of southern countries and more specifically the Mediterranean, African and Arab regions - but also with an opening on the Latin American regions and Asia. The South has now its own forum. According to the president of the Amadeus Institute, 'The MEDays has fulfilled a gap in this geographic zone and is a catalyst for world economy.'
A community of more than 200 speakers of high standards is present each year at the MEDays forum and participates in more than twenty panels to open up practical propositions and concrete sectoral solutions. Among them are heads of states and ministers, government officials, entrepreneurs, representatives from intergovernmental organizations, experts and civil society representatives.
More than 2500 participants attend the Forum include governmental representatives, public administrators, business leaders, researchers and graduate students, civil society and international governmental experts.
Format.
Far from being a traditional conference, the MEDays format is closer to a TV broadcast debate: speakers do not make presentations, instead they respond to solicitations and enquiries from the moderator. In parallel panels, the format is slightly different as the audience can interact directly with experts on the panel.
The MED ays offers a parallel business forum "Business MED ays" composed of plenary sessions, workshops and informal meetings, dedicated to business participants. Business MED aysis unique single space to
create practical and concrete business opportunities in the various geographical areas with close interest to the Forum.
MEDays 2008 : the launching.
The 2008 MEDays edition, 'The Southern Forum for a New Mediterranean’ took place in Tangiers on 26, 27 and 28 November. This was marked by a regional context coinciding with the launching of the Union for the Mediterranean in Paris on 13 July 2008.
This first edition had as its principal theme The Union for the Mediterranean, which aimed to firstly stimulate a better understanding of questions relevant to political, economic and social trials regarding the region, in order to implement this new concept of the Mediterranean.
More than 500 participants took part in this first edition. A community of high level speakers coming from all around the Mediterranean and from Africa and North America animated panels with strong debates and innovative propositions. Among them, one could find government representatives, policymakers, public administrators, and CEOs, university graduates, researchers, civil servants and experts from intergovernmental organisations.
The first MEDays forum kept its promise. Discussions from panels and remarks made by high-level personalities resulted in a series of propositions addressed to southern Mediterranean countries.
Reflections carried out by the 2008 MEDays led to a common engagement via the declaration of Tangiers, which was communicated to all the main political and economic decision makers from the region. The declaration insisted on the specific character of the Mediterranean identity as an important component of in shaping the citizen coming from the Mediterranean region.
Participants from the forum have also called on Algeria to go back to a return of reason and to spirit of responsibility with regards to the normalization of its relations with Morocco. As a pressing measure, they recommended the urgent reopening of the border frontiers between the two countries. The Amadeus Institute was equally engaged in encouraging actions intended to harmonize legislation between the two shores of the Mediterranean.
MEDays 2009 : the consolidation.
The main theme of the 2009 MEDays Forum was "responsible co-development". For its second edition, MEDays gathered 174 speakers and 1300 participants. Ministers, high executives and civil society representatives from more than 70 different counties animated the discussions during those three days. Similarly to 2008, the forum architecture was composed of 6 plenary sessions and 20 simultaneous panels.
Participation and media coverage improved dramatically from one year to another, which confirmed MEDays as a valuable event especially considering the quality of speakers, the great freedom of speech and an outstanding logistic organization.
Success was proved by great interest in the chosen themes, the high standard of speakers and the innovative propositions put forward by speakers, an essential factor to affect policy making in the region.
The Forum offered an honest discussion on the roots of global economic crisis and its effect on the region. The gathering of so many officials currently involved in framing their countries’ policy proved relevant and necessary to the organization of this event which seeks to foster an exchange of views as well as a direct and personal contact between participants.
Given all these developments, this explains why the MEDays Forum has become a valuable place to tackle issues pertaining to the South.
Debates that are breaking taboos.
Restarting an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue in total crisis.
Many observers were surprised by the achievement of the MEDays Forum which managed to bring together on the same panel the former Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni and Rafic Husseini who at the time was the director of the PA cabinet of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. This is the first time that an Arab country gathers in an informal setting and in a visible manner official representatives from both parties.
Dealing with drug traffickers’ danger in Africa's Sahel-Saharan zone.
Cocaine from South America, bound for Europe, transits through the African continent where local conflicts, the absence of strong states, corruption and poverty facilitates this process. Heroin from Asia is traded for cocaine in a very porous Sahel-Saharan area based on « one for one », creating de facto a kind of new currency in the region. Drug trafficking evolving from caravan transport to super jumbo, is becoming stronger not just as a result of international organized crime but due to terrorists’ activities in the Sahel-Saharian region.
Innovative proposals.
An observatory monitoring conflicts’ breakout in Africa.
The MEDays Forum proposes an original architecture in terms of conflict prevention: the creation of an observatory monitoring conflicts breakout in Africa with regional antennas. The purpose of this observatory would be to launch alert messages on harmful political developments in any African country. Managed by African contingents under UN supervision, the observatory could take action by addressing a direct diplomatic message to authorities or different political parties from countries where the political situation is worsening.
A contribution on shipped merchandise in the Mediterranean.
70% of boats crossing through the Mediterranean do not stop at harbors along the coast. They use the maritime space without contributing economically in the countries of the periphery and mobilize resources since they benefit from maritime security and other services, generating more costs for collectivities and greater risks of pollution. A contribution of €0.5 per ton of shipped merchandise withdrawn at the Suez and Gibraltar Detroit would generate €500 million in its first year.
Mediterranean Investment Bank.
The creation of a Mediterranean Investment Bank that could finance investments and cooperation projects in the Mediterranean region was at the heart of proposals presented at the MEDays 2008 and 2009.
An agreement was reached between large financial institutions from Member countries of The Union for the Mediterranean and a schedule and deadline were introduced for the creation of such a bank.
Charles Milhaud, present at the MEDays in 2009, was asked by Nicolas Sarkozy to work on the potential financing of Co-development within the UfM framework in order to define the possibility of creating the Mediterranean Investment Bank.
MEDays 2010 : the durability.
The third edition of MEDays had as an objective to render this forum durable as a major event on the international agenda and more importantly to make of it the reference reunion of the South region. New horizons of interregional cooperation were at the heart of the debates, especially the tricontinental, also called the "3A": Africa, South America and Asia. In 2010, almost 200 speakers coming from more than 80 countries as well as 1500 participants (around 40 ministers and 100 journalists) gathered in Tangier. The third edition of MEDays allowed the Forum to be listed for good in the agenda of important international conferences.
The outcome of this third forum confirms its place among the most prestigious annual international conferences: over 175 high level personalities took part in this third MEDays Forum including Edmund Phelps, 2006 Economy Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Cheick Sidi Diarra, UN Deputy Secretary General and Special adviser for Africa, Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Vice President of the European Parliament, Angelino Garzón, Vice President of Colombia, Saeb Erekat, Chief Negotiator of the Palestinian Authority, Philippe de Fontaine-Vive, Vice President of the European Investment Bank, over forty ministers and many other prestigious guests coming from over 80 countries.
Many national and international media have covered the Forum, including among others BBC, Euronews, France 24, RFI, "Al Hayat", "El Pais", "Jeune Afrique", "Les Afriques", "New African", "New York Times", "The Daily China" and "The Times".
MEDays 2010 outcomes.
The closing of these four days of work offered the opportunity to communicate its first conclusions, synthesized by the Chairman of the Amadeus Institute in six key recommendations from the 2010 Tangier Declaration:
The day before, Miguel Ángel Moratinos former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, publicly called heads of states throughout the world to recognize the Palestinian State as a solution to resolve the conflict, the peace process being frozen as a result of the Israeli decision to suspend the moratorium on settlements.
MEDays 2010 Awards.
Four awards presented at the MEDays 2010 were attributed to:
MEDays 2011 : the confirmation.
The 4th edition of MEDays took place in a historically exceptional context at the national, regional and international levels. 2011 has been a year of unprecedented upheavals, both fortunate and unfortunate. From January onward, the Arab world has been changing rapidly, with the onset of the Arab Spring. The revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt led to the downfall of their respective dictators, and subsequently sparked the uprisings in Libya, Yemen and Syria.
For the first time, the MEDays Forum brought together the main actors of change in the region with key international decision makers as part of an informal international conference. Key speakers included Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs; Saeb Erekat, Chief Negotiator of the Palestinian Authority; Alejandro Toledo a former President of Peru; Abdel Rahman Shalgham, the Libyan Permanent Representative to the United Nations; Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe; Andrés Pastrana Arango, a former President of Colombia; Sven Alkalaj, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia; Bernardino Leon, the Special Representative of the European Union for the Mediterranean; and Cheick Sidi Diarra, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, etc.
In addition to these figures, many ministers from nearly 80 countries also participated in MEDays, including representatives from Mali, Hungary, Liberia, Togo, Benin, Comoros, Senegal, Brazil, Tunisia, Pakistan, China, Dominica, and Grenada.
Conclusions.
The first one is the need for an overhaul reform in governance of the international institutions to better represent emerging countries in the decision-making structures. The second is that the developments and transformations in the Arab world in 2011 clearly showed that there can be no development without economic and social democratic opening. The new transitional governments in the region are facing serious challenges within a global fragile context—building skills, employment, economic growth and equal distribution of wealth.
More than ever, it is necessary for the G20 to accompany the processes of democratic transitions underway in the region. The Union for the Mediterranean, which was definitely burned down on Tahrir Square, must be rethought not only to support the process of democratization but to promote co-development as well. It is therefore imperative to create a new "Pact for Democracy and Development" based on a foundation of shared values and a common economic space. In practical terms, this process must go beyond the hindrances identified in the Euro-Mediterranean partnership since 1995. Because democracy goes hand in hand with development, we do hope that the "Deauville Partnership" will accompany political transitions under way in our countries.
MEDays 2011 Award.
The MEDays Forum is also an opportunity for the Amadeus Institute to reward outstanding initiatives with the MEDays prizes.
Fours prizes have been awarded this