Members and Partners of the CMI convened for the center’s seventh Annual Meeting. 2015 has been an important year for the CMI. Early in the year, the CMI members decided to extend the center’s cooperation agreement for a third phase, running from July 2015 to June 2018. 2015 also marks the expansion of the CMI family to include four new members: Greece, Italy, the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, and the Palestinian Authority, as well as the European Union External Action service as an observer.

Chaired by Hafez Ghanem, World Bank Vice President for the MENA region, the meeting was held with high-level participation of its members (Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, EIB, City of Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region and the World Bank), and partners (AFD, Anna Lindh Foundation, European Union, FEMISE, France Médias Monde, GIZ, MUCEM, OCEMO, etc). Greece, Italy, and the European Union External Action service, the Center’s newest members, actively participated in the meeting as well as the European Union External Action service, which was present as an observer.

CMI’s third phase thematic focus

The Annual Meeting showcased the CMI’s highlights for 2015 and emphasized on the Center’s third phase covering the period of 2016-2018. Members and Partners reaffirmed youth as a crosscutting and guiding priority form CMI’s programmes which will revolve around 5 thematic focus unanimously adopted during the meeting:

1. 1. Education, Innovation and Employability
2. 2. Refugees and Mobility
3. 3. Violent Extremism
4. 4. Climate Change (water and Energy)
5. 5. Territorial Cohesion and Urban Development

The annual meeting was followed by a “Start-Up Youth” panel whereby four young entrepreneurs from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia presented their stories, successes and challenges, encountered on their path to creating innovative enterprises in the region. The meeting concluded with the photo exhibition #MyClimateMySolution , CMI’s interactive campaign voicing citizens’ solutions to climate change.

Read CMI Annual Report 2015

View Photo Album