The Mediterranean Economic Conference: Employment and Territorial Development  offers a unique platform for reflection, exchange of experiences and definition of strategies as well as actions to address the unemployment challenge in the Southern Mediterranean countries.

Co-organized by the Secretariat of the UfM and the Government of Tunisia, the conference is bringing together high level representatives from the European Institutions (EEAS, European Commission, European Parliament), government officials and ministers from the Mediterranean region, representatives from regional and national organizations, influential practitioners in the area of local development and job creation as well as intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions and business leaders from the banking sector and SMEs.

This year, the first edition of the conference will be held in Tunisia. In line with the current political, economic and social climate, the conference will reflect pressing issues on employment opportunities for youth and women or the promotion of local development, and it will further witness the launch of the Mediterranean Initiative for Jobs (Med4Jobs), designed by the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean in response to the structural challenges in the region.

The Conference will be organised around thematic sessions aiming to address the following questions to guide the debates:

	How to adapt national strategies to better improve youth employability and skills?
	How national strategies could be translated into local actions?
	How to reduce frictional unemployment?
	How could SMEs development and private sector investments create local and regional champions?