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Malta Business Review<br />
EURO-MEDITERRANEAN REGION<br />
EMPOWERING YOUTH AND WOMEN’S<br />
ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE<br />
EURO-MEDITERRANEAN REGION<br />
Libyan fashion company wins Young Local<br />
Entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean<br />
A Libyan fashion and textile company was<br />
awarded the Young Local Entrepreneurship<br />
in the Mediterranean Award 2019 on 26<br />
February. The award was handed over at the<br />
plenary session of the Euro-Mediterranean<br />
Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) held<br />
in the Spanish city of Seville, where 100 local<br />
and regional leaders gathered to discuss<br />
how to foster youth entrepreneurship,<br />
empower women, improve governance,<br />
strengthen city-to-city cooperation and<br />
manage migration.<br />
The award was given to Zimni Jdeed, a<br />
fashion and textile company based in Tripoli<br />
that is re-fashioning traditional clothing<br />
with great success. The young entrepreneur<br />
Najway Altahir Mohammed Shukri and<br />
her brother Ali launched the company<br />
three years ago. They now employ six<br />
seamstresses, offering a decent working<br />
environment for women. The first edition of<br />
the ARLEM award received 24 applications<br />
from nine countries.<br />
Praising the winner, Karl-Heinz Lambertz,<br />
President of the European Committee<br />
of the Regions, said: “There is a desire<br />
throughout the Mediterranean to enhance<br />
cooperation and unlock the enormous<br />
potential of the region. By empowering all<br />
young people regardless of gender, we can<br />
stir entrepreneurship and create new jobs.<br />
Through decentralised cooperation we<br />
are deepening integration of the region,<br />
overcoming challenges that transcend<br />
borders, such as migration and social<br />
exclusion, and delivering sustainable<br />
development."<br />
Lahcen Amrouch, Mayor of Argana in<br />
Morocco and representative of ARLEM’s<br />
co-President Mohammed Boudra at the<br />
meeting, stressed: “Youth entrepreneurship<br />
is a priority for ARLEM. That is why we have<br />
launched the ARLEM Award to promote<br />
young entrepreneurship and give visibility<br />
to those that are not discouraged by the<br />
difficulties of starting a new business.<br />
We urge national governments to<br />
simplify business legislation, reduce the<br />
administrative and tax burden, and create<br />
business incubators and micro-credit<br />
schemes to boost young entrepreneurship.”<br />
Nasser Kamel, Secretary General of the<br />
Union for the Mediterranean, said: “The<br />
work of the Euro-Mediterranean Local<br />
and Regional Assembly is extraordinarily<br />
important. The Assembly represents the<br />
people of the Euro-Mediterranean region,<br />
more than 800 million citizens who need<br />
our engagement and commitment to the<br />
promotion of dialogue and cooperation. As<br />
the territorial dimension of the Union for<br />
the Mediterranean, ARLEM must contribute<br />
to defining the priorities and enhancing<br />
the visibility of the work and activities we<br />
undertake, bringing the Euro-Mediterranean<br />
partnership closer to the interests and<br />
expectations of its citizens."<br />
The delegation of 100 participants from<br />
19 countries members visited La Cartuja<br />
in Seville, the 1992 Universal Exposition<br />
site now reconverted into a business park<br />
and incubator centre that gathers 450<br />
companies and 17,000 employees. The<br />
Mayor of Seville, Juan Espadas (ES/PES),<br />
said: “The city council has deployed new<br />
competencies to tackle unemployment,<br />
focusing on youth training and improving<br />
their employability. Seville has great human<br />
capital. Entrepreneurship is in our city’s<br />
DNA. That is why I am particularly gratified<br />
that the first ceremony of the ARLEM award<br />
to young entrepreneurs is taking place in<br />
our city.”<br />
During the ARLEM meeting, a report<br />
on ‘Youth entrepreneurship in the<br />
Mediterranean’ was adopted that calls<br />
for the strengthening of programmes<br />
that support youth entrepreneurship,<br />
such as MedUP!, Med4jobs and Next<br />
Society, in order to promote economic<br />
development on the southern shores of<br />
the Mediterranean. The EU, the report<br />
says, should initiate schemes to give young<br />
entrepreneurs from North Africa and the<br />
Middle East the opportunity to receive<br />
training from experienced entrepreneurs in<br />
one of the 28 EU Member States.<br />
Rapporteur Olgierd Geblewicz (PL/EPP),<br />
President of Westpomerania Region,<br />
said: “We need to facilitate young<br />
entrepreneurship to revitalise local<br />
communities, create new jobs, boost<br />
economic growth and improve social<br />
welfare. We call on the EU, the UN and<br />
national governments across the Euro-<br />
Mediterranean region to create vocational<br />
programmes and develop micro-credit<br />
schemes for young entrepreneurs. Local<br />
and regional authorities should be fully<br />
involved in market labour and employment<br />
policies as they are best placed to<br />
implement programmes that fit the needs<br />
of their communities.”<br />
A report on ‘Governance and transparency<br />
in the Mediterranean’, led by Lütfü<br />
Savas, Mayor of Hatay in Turkey, was also<br />
adopted. It calls for greater decentralisation<br />
in the region, as a way to address the<br />
current distrust of public authorities. By<br />
empowering local governments, citizens can<br />
more actively participate in decision-making.<br />
The ARLEM defends higher budgets for local<br />
governments and tax collection capacities to<br />
invest in new projects in priority areas.<br />
Co-organised by the Conference of<br />
Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR)<br />
and the Association of European Border<br />
Regions (AEBR), a workshop on migration<br />
was also held focusing on the role of local<br />
and regional authorities in receiving and<br />
integrating migrants.<br />
Discussions on the Nicosia initiative, a<br />
decentralised cooperation programme<br />
between EU and Libyan Mayors, also<br />
took place held. Following the successful<br />
exchange programmes in sustainable fishing<br />
with the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and<br />
water management with Murcia, the ARLEM<br />
aims to extend the Nicosia initiative with<br />
more funds and exchange programmes, and<br />
has welcomed new partners such as the<br />
Galicia regional government. <strong>MBR</strong><br />
Credit: David Crous<br />
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