12 March 2025, Barcelona – The Union for the Mediterranean and Interreg NEXT MED, the largest EU-funded transnational cooperation programme promoting socioeconomic development and environmental initiatives in the Mediterranean Basin, have reached an agreement formally extending collaboration between both parties for at least another three years.

The Memorandum of Understanding, which highlights how both Euro-Mediterranean institutions strive to reinforce political, socioeconomic, and cultural ties in the region, was signed by UfM Secretary General Nasser Kamel and Director General of the Interreg NEXT MED Programme Giovanna Medde. The agreement, significantly, foresees mutual participation in events and conferences and, when relevant, extends invitations to participate in internal meetings as observers. It will also see the organisations continue to exchange information on projects of common interest, identify joint coordination actions and raise awareness of regional challenges together.

“The UfM and Interreg NEXT MED are united by the common goal of enhanced dialogue and cooperation between Mediterranean countries. The indisputable success of our partnership over the years is a positive sign for the future,” said UfM Secretary General Nasser Kamel. “The UfM remains convinced of the long-term constructive influence of this alliance and looks forward to three more years of shared accomplishments.”

The long-standing partnership between these Euro-Mediterranean institutions has resulted in a multitude of impactful actions including Interreg NEXT MED’s participation in the UfM-sponsored Mediterranean Pavilion at the latest three United Nations Climate Change Conferences, its commemoration of the anniversary of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, and involvement in thematic UfM forums on youth empowerment or the blue economy, among others.

“The UfM-Interreg NEXT MED agreement has been instrumental in enhancing coordination between both institutions,” said Giovanna Medde, Director General of the Interreg NEXT MED Programme. “It is essential for developing and implementing jointly-owned solutions to the complex challenges our region faces. I am confident that renewing it will help us move closer to achieving our common goal of a more integrated, peaceful and prosperous Mediterranean.”

Source UfM website

The WestMED Assistance Mechanism (WM-AM) has initiated several thematic discussion platforms. Current and future maritime developments are being discussed with lead stakeholders from the participating countries under the guidance of  WM-AM  facilitators, with a focus on concrete actions – often in the form of joint project development.

To provide insights in the objectives and activities of these stakeholder groups, regular updates will be provided in the form of short presentations. These presentations can be found as a pdf file on the respective thematic stakeholder group pages:

• AquaWest/ Sustainable Aquaculture
• Maritime Clusters Alliance
• Green Shipping
• Sustainable Tourism
• Maritime Spatial Planning

If you are interested to know more or consider joining, just get in touch with the respective WestMED National Hubs that are mentioned on each of these pages

Maritime transport and Ports probably represent the core sector, to win the challenge of sustainability of the Blue Economy, considering its impact in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) and jobs creation across the EU and its neighbouriung regions.

Greening the EU maritime transport is therefore pivotal to ‘green’ the EU blue economy at large (including tourism, aquaculture, biotechs, marine renewable energy).

But a green transition for the EU maritime transport sectors requires a common vision to equip ports and fleets in a coherent way, within a network capable to ensure their operativity.

Therefore, within the work of the WestMED Technical Group on Green Shipping,the strong need emerged to re-configurate the shipbuilding supply chain and create the production capacity to equip the fleets with propulsion systems, using alternative fuels.

Shipbuilding Propulsion Systems Alliance
For this reason the WestMED Technical Group on Green Shipping, the EU Seabasin Assistance Mechanism, promoted by CINEA and DG Mare, have supported a dedicated Smart Specialisation (S3) Thematic Partnership in this area, encountering the interest of the impacted territories where shipbuilding operations are mostly located, and involving different stakeholders – authorities, research and innovation centres, businesses and investors.

 The newly launched S3 Thematic partnership “Shipbuilding Propulsion Systems Alliance”, led by Region Liguria, Região capital de Portugal, Region Attica, brings together 26 partners – including Regional Bodies, Businesses, Cluster Organisations, Research & Innovation Centres and Civil Society Organisations – from 5 EU Member states  and 4 non EU partner countries spread across 3 EU Sea basins (Mediterranean Atlantic, Black Sea).

 The initiative, more specifically, aims at:

• Speeding  up the modernisation and renewal of the supply chains related to the production/refitting of propulsion systems, as well as to the delivery of the fuel, for each type of alternative fuel.
• Accelerating the replacement/refitting of traditionally propelled fleets to diversify, renew, revitalise the sector across Europe and its neighbourhoods;
• Fostering the adoption of innovative fiscal and financial schemes, to allow shipowners, shipbuilders and related stakeholders to achieve greater impact and sustainability for their investments.

For more information on this Partnership, visit the  S3 Community of Practice page of the European Commission

On 3 October 2024, 87 practioners and policymakers from 15 countries met in Vilamoura, Portugal to discuss project ideas and possible funding sources. This was the 3rd WestMED hackathon after previous succesful sessions in Palermo (2019) and Malta (2022).

This year’s Hackathon with the title ‘Crafting Sustainable Blue Economy Projects’ was hosted and co-organised by Portugal, Mauritania and DG MARE/ European Commission.

After the opening remarks by the Sea Basins Assistance Mechanism Team Leader from Ecorys (Javier Fernández), the Portuguese and Mauritanian co-presidencies (Lídia Bulcão and Demba Diawara) and a welcome word by the European Commission (Christos Economou), WestMED’s project coordinator (Celia Murcia) took the floor to explain the proceedings for the day and introduced the speakers that each detailed different EU financial instruments with current and upcoming funding opportunities such as Interreg NEXT MED, EMFAF, BlueInvest and Erasmus+.

These instruments have proven to be a vital part to support the implementation of ideas, projects and creation of partnerships that promote co-operation, collaboration and co-ordination between the economic agents of the countries that are part of the WestMed Initiative. This funding part was completed by a presentation detailing 2 practical Portuguese examples that have been supported by the WestMED National Hub and can be replicated: MEDBAN (Mediterranean Blue Acceleration Network) and HUBAZUL.

After the funding part, six blue projects took the stage to tell their story, five of whom have received EMFAF funding.  These projects (CALLMEBLUE, WeMED NA_TOUR, WINBIG, GREEN MARINE MED , BlueAquaEdu and Blue Skills) served as an inspiration for the five Project Development Labs that followed shortly after.

Each lab consisted of approximately 15-20 stakeholders with two moderators and were focused on some of the main themes that have been prioritised within the WestMED Initiative:  Aquaculture, Blue Skills and careers, Maritime clusters, Green shipping and ports, and Sustainable tourism.

The outcomes of these discussions were presented in a plenary session and the next steps briefly outlined with enough ideas to be further explored.

The day was concluded by Marisa Lameiras da Silva, Director General for Maritime Policy in Portugal who shared her reflections and conclusions noting the remarkable amount of energy that she had found with the participants engaging in the different Labs.  Manuel Pleguezuelo Alonso from DG MARE brought this event to an end by highlighting how some of the ideas from the hackathon 2 years ago have now come to fruition, emphasising the importance of “policies through projects,” and thanking all participants who have made this possible. 

Download the hackathon report

Download the agenda

Watch all WestMED Hackathon ’24 presentations: dedicated playlist on WestMED’s YouTube channel