In the framework of the EBSOMED project, the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) and BUSINESSMED organised a Business Matchmaking Forum under the theme "Towards an Innovative Paradigm for Sustainable Development across the Mediterranean”. The 2-day event was held on April, 15th and 16th, 2019 in Egypt, Cairo.

Overall, the event gathered more than 950 Economic operators and stakeholders from the Euro-Mediterranean region. The Forum aimed at improving the attractiveness of Mediterranean business ecosystems by consolidating business networks and providing interactions and synergies between all actors coming from the two shores of the Mediterranean.

The event had a joint opening with the CSR Conference and started with an institutional meeting gathering the European Union Delegation to Egypt, the FEI, BUSINESSMED as well as several Egyptian ministers (Industry and Trade, Education and Social Solidarity).

Following the opening, a Ministerial Roundtable took place in view of discussing how creating alignment and synergies between government policies, private sector initiatives and civil society organizations’ needs can lead to successful and sustainable regional and local partnerships.

During his intervention Dr. Khaled Abd El Azim, Executive Director of the FEI, stressed the important role that EBSOMED can play in the implementation of a regional hub for socio-economic development in the Mediterranean space.

The Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Egypt, Mr. Ivan Surkos, highlighted the increasing efforts of the EU external action in enhancing the Mediterranean investments’ environment to ensure stability, prosperity and job creation in Egypt and in the region and by emphasizing the fundamental role of private sector development in empowering SMEs.

Two thematic panels followed the Ministerial roundtable and were framed with regard to the partnerships-related Sustainable Development Goals. The first panel focused on the Impact of supporting vocational training and education for economic growth and was dedicated to key lessons on developing ‘dual vocational training’ to support the labor market insertion of women and youth in disadvantaged areas. The second panel focused on the promotion of business partnerships synergies in the Euro-Mediterranean Region through networking opportunities and project cross-sectorial cooperation.

The second day of the EBSOMED forum was dedicated to B2B meetings and companies’ presentations coming from IT, Ready-Made Garments, Food industry and Chemical sector. Mediterranean companies were brought together to build interactions and synergies with the aim of consolidating strong business and commercial partnerships across the region.