The IEMed fosters a network of think tanks of the Western Mediterranean

On 23-24 May in Barcelona, around thirty think tanks and public diplomacy institutions agreed to create the “Med Think 5+5”, a new network of think tanks that will have its headquarters in the city. The objective of the network, which the IEMed both promotes and hosts as its secretariat, is to foster dialogue and research on how to develop regional integration and cooperation in the Western Mediterranean. 

The decision was taken during an international forum organised by the IEMed at the Palau de Pedralbes where representatives of think tanks and public diplomacy institutions analysed the political and socioeconomic situation in the Western Mediterranean and reflected on how regional integration and cooperation could be improved in the framework of the 5+5 Dialogue, the intergovernmental sub-regional cooperation forum where Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia regularly meet. 

In this respect, the new network of think tanks “Med Think 5+5” seeks to expand the analysis and understanding of the main challenges facing the Western Mediterranean, as well as its identified needs and trends, with the aim of contributing useful elements to the reflections and decision-making in the framework of the 5+5 Dialogue.  

The network, which all the participants of the meeting in Barcelona are invited to join, will be constituted this year, as well as choosing a scientific committee and approving a two-year work plan for 2017-2018. The plan is expected to include the programming of a major annual forum, as well as seminars and symposia, and the launch of three annual research projects and digital dissemination tools.
The Barcelona forum 

At the Palau de Pedralbes, the forum that led to the creation of the network was opened yesterday afternoon by the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Fathallah Sijilmassi and the Executive President of the IEMed, Senén Florensa. The session was also attended by representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs of France and Morocco, countries that currently hold the 5+5 Dialogue co-presidency.
The approximately thirty participants, from the ten countries that make up the 5+5 Dialogue, included Nuno Severiano Teixeira, former Portuguese Minister of Defence and Director of the Instituto Português de Relações Internacionais (IPRI); Dahan Ahmed Mahmoud, former Mauritanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Mauritanian Institute for Strategic Studies; Mohamed Behnassi, Director of the Institute of Research for Environment, Human Security and Governance (Morocco), andRoderick Pace, Director of the Institute for European Studies at the University of Malta, among others.