PRESS RELEASE

MARSEILLE, September 13th, 2021

As of July 1st, 2021, and eleven years after its creation by the World Bank in Marseille, France, the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) has officially joined the United Nations (UN),  hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). Under the auspices of the UN, the CMI has been entrusted with a renewed mandate: Implementing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17: Partnerships in the Mediterranean.

Today, the CMI is the only Mediterranean regional initiative gathering international development institutions, national governments, local authorities, and civil society.

By operating under the UN constituency, the CMI will act as a regional initiative specialized in implementing SDG17 by revitalizing the partnership for sustainable development and integration in the Mediterranean.

The UN SDG Goal 17, defined as “Partnerships for the goals”, is based on the recognition that the SDGs can only be realized with strong global partnerships and cooperation. A successful development agenda requires inclusive partnerships — at the global, regional, national, and local levels — built upon principles and values, and upon a shared vision and shared goals placing people and the planet at the center.

“Never before was Mediterranean integration more needed than it is now. The region faces a unique opportunity to fulfill its historical mandate in bringing closer its peoples, cultures, resources, and assets. Enhancing Mediterranean integration means going beyond trade and addressing regional common challenges in areas such as human capital mobility and environmental resilience” says Blanca Moreno-Dodson, CMI Director. “Regional collaboration is even more critical to stimulate recovery from COVID 19 which is a global “bad” requiring public policy coordinated actions. Many lives will depend on such collaboration and joint responses. Now is the time to push forward” she adds.

The CMI was created in 2009 and functions as a partnership with its own governance (World Bank, European Investment Bank, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Spain, Tunisia, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur - Sud Region, and UN-HABITAT), hosted by France in the city of Marseille. The European External Action Service (EEAS) is an observer. In addition, the CMI includes a large list of technical partners, such as the French Agency for Development (AFD), the Department for International Development of the UK (FCDO), and the German Agency for International Development (GIZ), who contribute to delivering CMI activities and programs. 

With this new phase, the CMI’s governance will be adapted. Following the World Bank, the chairmanship will rotate every three years among the Members of the Center, starting with the Kingdom of Morocco. This new governance model is a signal of the Members' strong involvement in the Center's activities.  The World Bank will remain an active member. At the strategic level, it will continue contributing to the Center’s main orientations. On the operational side, it will maintain its financial support as well as the solid technical partnerships that have been built over the years.

In pursuing SDG17, the CMI will aim at enhancing Mediterranean integration by delivering analytical products, knowledge exchange, capacity building, and investment project incubation.  Socioeconomic transformation, resilience to conflict, and proactively fighting climate change, along with gender and youth as transversal dimensions, will remain the overarching objectives of the CMI to be achieved through regional partnerships. 

Media contact:

Zein Nahas, Senior Communications Officer, [email protected], 0033604677242