The event is a joint initiative by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) and the United Nations Trade and Productive Capacity Cluster and is organized by UNECE in cooperation with UNCTAD and PAM.

The main topics to be discussed in Geneva will be “Trade and Transport Facilitation” and “Development of productive capacity” in the Mediterranean.

The meeting will discuss the economic consequences of the recent political developments in the region, and the actions required to re-launch economy and employment. Energy regulation and security, as well as water management, will also be on the agenda.

Furthermore, the meeting in Geneva will represent an opportunity to fine-tune the activities of the other sectoral groups within the Panel.

The meeting will be opened by the Secretary General of UNCTAD, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the Deputy Executive Secretary of UNECE, Mr. Andrey Vasilyev, and Sen. Francesco Amoruso (Italy), PAM Vice President and President of PAM 2nd Standing Committee. Some one hundred delegates, from 20 countries, will attend the event. Among the participants, the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Dr. Lino Cardarelli, as well as senior experts from the UN, the World Bank, the ILO, WTO, OECD and EBRD will address the meeting.

A preliminary meeting of the Steering Committee of the PAM Panel was held in Milan, Italy, on 19 April 2011, under the leadership of Sen. Amoruso.

PAM has also been invited to the 8th Euro-Mediterranean ministerial meeting on Industry, to be held in Malta on 11-12 May 2011. On that occasion PAM will be able to explain the philosophy and the strategic objectives of the PAM Panel to a wider audience of stakeholders at a ministerial and government level. “This is useful to establish further synergies and cooperation in the economic, industrial and financial sectors of the region”, Dr. Piazzi concluded.