Brussels, 03/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The commission for sustainable territorial development of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) held its first session in Brussels on Monday 26 October. ARLEM is co-chaired by the Committee of the Regions.
The discussions covered “a sustainable urban agenda for the Mediterranean region”, “employment and territorial development in the Mediterranean region” and “cross-border cooperation”. A round table was organised on migration and this focused on “employment and territorial development”, which are “two themes that cannot be separated”, the report on which the discussions were based stated.
The report says that the challenge is that of the southern and eastern Mediterranean forming a region that is going through strong demographic growth, with increased moves away from the countryside. The region's economic growth has not been enough in recent years to create jobs for the large numbers of young people starting out on the jobs markets. As well as internal migration, there is displacement of people due to the different conflicts still rampant in the region, and there is also external migration pressure from the countries on the neighbouring borders of the EU. As a result of all this, the region's unemployment rate is one of the highest in the world.
The report says that the breadth of this challenge creates the need to acknowledge the territorial dimension of development, with the aim of improving territorial cohesion and a balance between the regions.
The model proposed is that of European regional policy, which shows that targeted investment in the most disadvantaged regions can help competitiveness and therefore economic growth and job creation, while improving people's standard of living. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)