Youth and the Mediterranean: Exploring New Approaches to Dialogue and Cooperation

The Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) organized a one-day conference at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on 19 January 2017 with the participation of eight outstanding young scholars from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Selected through a rigorous peer-reviewed application process, the speakers were drawn from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia and were paired with a selected number of expert discussants to present their views and research on a number of salient issues impacting Euro-Mediterranean relations. Organized in the framework of the New-Med Research Network, the event benefitted from the inputs and support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the Compagnia di San Paolo of Turin. Held at the MAECI in Rome, the international conference was hosted under the auspices of the Italian Chairmanship of the OSCE Mediterranean Contact Group, a role Italy will hold throughout 2017 and will subsequently lead to Italy’s Chairmanship of the OSCE, slated to begin in January 2018.

Report of the international conference “Youth and the Mediterranean: Exploring New Approaches to Dialogue and Cooperation” held in Rome on 19 January 2017 and jointly organised by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di San Paolo of Turin within the framework of the New-Med Research Network.