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Panel 1 : Connectivity, Value Chains and the Green Transition in the Mediterranean

November 2, 2022
Related topics: 
Economy
Macroeconomics and regulation
MENA

Faced with the compounding challenges of post-Covid recovery and supply chain disruptions, the green energy transition and the global implications of the Ukraine conflict, trade and connectivity across the Mediterranean is assuming even greater importance in policy circles. From renewable energy and food security, new industrial and agricultural practices, manufacturing value chains and electricity connectors, the Euro-Mediterranean space is ripe with opportunities for enhanced integration.

Against this backdrop, the Policy Center for the New South and the New Med Research Network run by the Rome-based Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) are pleased to organize an international conference on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 to address the impact of these global disruptions on the potential to re-launch effective multilateral cooperation across the shared Mediterranean space.

This event will be an opportunity to reflect on the new and pre-existing challenges constraining Mediterranean Basin states from embracing the full potential of multilateral cooperation and propose sustainable pathways to enhance trade and connectivity across the shared Mediterranean space. Structured around a key-note speech and two expert panels with the participation of researchers, practitioners and policymakers, the conference will assess the present state of trade and connectivity between North Africa and Europe, taking stock of the impact of Covid-19, the green energy transition and Russia’s war on Ukraine on the potential to engender more sustainable forms of multilateral cooperation, sustainable growth and integration among Mediterranean Basin states.

Speakers
Armando Barucco
Ambassador of Italy to Morocco
H.E. Armando Barucco is the Italian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. From March 2015 to February 2021, Ambassador Barucco served as Director of the Policy Planning Unit at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. A previous Ambassador of Italy to Sudan from November 2011 to February 2015. During his tenure he dealt successfully with  several human rights case; from 2013 he was also in charge of the first EU cooperation programme managed by Italy (rehabilitation of the healthcare system in eastern Sudan). From 2007 to 2011, Ambassador Barucco worked as "Antici" Counselor at the Permanent Representation of Italy to the EU, and was entrusted with general coordination, preparation of European  Councils, and ...
Karim El Aynaoui
Executive President
Karim El Aynaoui is Executive President of the Policy Center for the New South. He is also Executive Vice-President of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Dean of its Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences Cluster. Karim El Aynaoui is an economist. From 2005 to 2012, he worked at the Central Bank of Morocco where he held the position of Director of Economics, Statistics, and International Relations. At the Central Bank of Morocco, he was in charge of the Research Department and equally a member of the Governor’s Cabinet. Previously, he worked for eight years at the World Bank as an Economist for its regional units of the Middle East and North Africa and Africa. Karim El Aynaoui has published books and journal articles on macroeconomic issues in developing countries. Hi ...
Andrea Dessì
Head, Italian Foreign Policy Programme, Istituto Affari Internazionali and Scientific Director, New-Med Research Network
Andrea Dessì is Head of IAI's Italian Foreign Policy Programme, Senior Fellow within IAI’s Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa programme and Editorial Director of IAI’s English-language series IAI Commentaries. Andrea is also Scientific Director of the New Med Research Network and a Non-Resident Scholar at the Strategic Studies Implementation and Research Centre, Başkent University, Ankara. He has worked extensively on US and European foreign policy towards the Middle East with a particular focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict, human security and multilateral cooperation in the region. His research interests include security studies, the geopolitics of the Middle East and the intersection between global and regional trends and developments, including in terms of the climate em ...
Patricia Llombart Cussac
Ambassador, European Union Delegation to Morocco
Patricia Pilar LLOMBART CUSSAC presented her credentials to His Majesty King Mohammed VI on 17 January 2022 as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the European Union to the Kingdom of Morocco. After studying law, international trade and advanced European studies, Patricia Pilar LLOMBART CUSSAC joined the European institutions in 1993. She held several positions in the European Commission and the European External Action Service, as a member of the private office of the Commissioner for External Relations and the Vice-President responsible for relations with Latin America, Asia, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and then as Head of Division for relations with Iran, Iraq, Yemen and the Gulf Cooperation Council. She was appointed Director of Administrative and Lo ...
Mounia Boucetta
Senior Fellow
Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, Mounia Boucetta has over 20 years of experience in public administration, holding numerous managerial and leadership roles, and working particularly on the development of industrial and commercial policies. She was most recently Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Morocco from 2017 to 2019.   A graduate from the prestigious Mohammadia School of Engineers (Morocco), Mounia Boucetta joined the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 1991 where she held numerous positions before her appointment as its Secretary General in 2010. In this context, she contributed to numerous projects including, but not limited to, reorganizational projects, implementation of sectoral strategies, inve ...
Michael Tanchum
Non-Resident Scholar, Middle East Institute
Prof. Michaël Tanchum teaches at Universidad de Navarra and is a non-resident fellow in the Economics and Energy Program at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington, D.C. He is also senior policy fellow at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES). With a special emphasis on agriculture and food production, Prof. Tanchum is an expert on the geopolitics of the emerging nexus of energy, strategic resources, and manufacturing value chains that link Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. His recent publications include: “Germany’s Expanding Partnership with Morocco: Strengthening Supply Chain Resilience is the Driving Factor” (MIPA, Rabat, 2022); “Morocco’s New Challenges as a Gatekeeper of the World’s Food Supply: The Geopolitics, Economics, and Sustaina ...
Massimo Deandreis
General Manager SRM Economic Research Group, Intesa San Paolo
Massimo Deandreis, is General Manager of SRM, an Economic Research Centre related to the Intesa Sanpaolo Banking Group, specialized in the Italian economy, energy issues and maritime economy in a European and Mediterranean perspective. He is also currently President of GEI, the Italian Society of Business Economists, and he has been Professor of Business Management at University of Turin from 2008 to 2018. In Intesa Sanpaolo Banking Group he was previously chief of staff of the President of the Bank from 2008 to 2010. In the past he worked as a researcher at Centro Einaudi in Turin and the European Association of Regional Financial Centres (ACRFRE), collaborating with the OECD. He lived in Brussels for five years working as Head of the Piemonte delegation to the European Union ...
Larabi Jaïdi
Senior Fellow
Larabi Jaïdi is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and an Affiliate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. His areas of expertise include international economy, economic policies, international economic relations, regional economies, social development, international relations, and Mediterranean studies. He also served on the Special Commission on the New Development Model of Morocco, a consultative body created in November 2019 to formulate the country's new developmental guidelines. Jaïdi is a former Professor at Mohamed V University in Rabat-Agdal and a founding member of both the Centre Marocain de Conjoncture and the Groupement d’Etudes et de Recherches sur la Méditerranée.   Prof. Jaïdi previously served as Advisor to the Prime Minister an ...

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