Ministers of Industry and International cooperation from the Southern Mediterranean, as well as institutional representatives, the private sector, entrepreneurs, civil society, academics, and international cooperation partners are invited to participate in a high level regional conference on ‘Creativity, jobs and local economic development in the Southern Mediterranean’ on 14-15 November in Algiers.

Considering the key role of creativity and clusters in local economic development, the aim of the conference is to share best practices of pilot initiatives that have been developed under the Creative Mediterranean project over the past four years in seven countries of the Southern Mediterranean (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia).

Thematic sessions will focus on:

1. Resilience trough Creativity: Unleashing the transformative power of creativity for local economic development;
2. Clusters as a driving force for innovation, growth and SMEs’ internationalisation: lessons learned in the MENA region;
3. Women’s economic empowerment through creative industries in the Southern Mediterranean;
4. The Euro-Mediterranean partnership for industry: how to facilitate commercial linkages in the cultural and creative fields?

The conference is organised within the framework of the project “Creative Mediterranean: Development of clusters in Cultural and Creative Industries in the Southern Mediterranean”, funded by the European Union and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

It aims to prepare a roadmap about the role of creativity, MSMEs and clusters in the economic development of the Southern Mediterranean, which will feed the discussions during the 10th Ministerial Meeting for Euro-Mediterranean industrial cooperation in 2018.

This conference also intends to present the best instruments to develop cultural and creative industries and creativity in the region; to share best practices in order to help developing MSMEs in the countries of the Southern Mediterranean; and to show the role of the cultural and creative industries for the promotion of social inclusion, especially the economic integration of women and youth in the region.

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Press release

Creative Mediterranean website