From Crisis to Recovery in the Western Mediterranean:
Challenges and opportunities on the road to a Post-COVID-19 sustainable growth
Webinar (open to registration)
With English-French simultaneous translation
The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to limit its spread (mainly restricted mobility and lockdowns) have plunged the global economy into a historical severe contraction. In a Western Mediterranean severely hit by the new coronavirus, trade flows have suffered a dramatic reduction while critical industries for the economies of the region such as tourism, transport and energy were put under serious stress. Both in the north and the south of the Western Mediterranean, the scale of the economic downturn is historical: the latest forecasts by the International Monetary Fund show that economic growth in Spain, France, and Italy will drop by approximately 12%, by 8% in Portugal, by 6% in Algeria and Malta, by 4% in Tunisia and Morocco, and by 2% in Mauritania. In concrete terms, this recession will entail the destruction of national productive capacities with the bankruptcy of thousands of SMEs, a sharp rise in unemployment, coupled with a deterioration of the budget position of states faced with decreasing tax revenues and declining exchange reserves.
Although the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is making the socio-economic situation even more difficult in the Western Mediterranean, the countries of the region have prepared economic recovery plans which aim at helping re-activate the economy, safeguarding enterprises and jobs, and fostering investments that would create added value. Throughout the summer, countries such as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco or France have unveiled recovery plans with the declared ambition to launch a new model of economic growth based on the principles of the sustainable development and the knowledge economy.
Against this background, this new webinar of the Medthink 5+5 network of Western Mediterranean think tanks, co-organized by the Policy Center for the New South and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), aims at analyzing the economic situation generated by the COVID-19 crisis in the countries of the region. It will debate the prospects of economic recovery considering the plans unveiled by the different Western Mediterranean countries to return to a path of economic growth and employment.
To register to the event: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CcbeinkDRpqyZKjJ_8p4eA
Agenda
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Rabat, Morocco | Fuseau horaire GMT +1 |
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Welcoming addresses |
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15:00 - 15 :15 |
Karim El Aynaoui, President, Policy Center for the New South Senén Florensa, President of the Executive Committee, European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) |
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Keynote speeches |
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15:15 – 15:35 |
Luis Óscar Moreno, Director General of Economic Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain |
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Roundtable - From Crisis to Recovery in the Western Mediterranean: Challenges and opportunities on the road to a Post-COVID-19 sustainable growth |
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15:35 – 16:15 |
Moderator: Roger Albinyana, Director of Mediterranean Regional Policies and Human Development, European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed)
Speakers:
Hakim Ben Hammouda, Member of the Advisory Board, Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association. Former Minister of Economy and Finance of Tunisia Giorgia Giovannetti, Vice President for International Relations and Full Professor of Economics, University of Firenze Larabi Jaïdi, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South Yahia Zoubir, Professor of International Relations and International Management, Director of Research in Geopolitics, KEDGE Business School |
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16-15 - 16:30 |
Open Discussion |
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