Libya hosted the first national event of the European Union’s WestMED initiative last Thursday, the EU announced. The European Union Delegation to Libya and the Italian Embassy participated in the event.
The WestMED Initiative was created to help public institutions, academia, local communities, small and medium-sized enterprises, and entrepreneurs from both shores of the Western Mediterranean develop local and regional maritime projects together.
The programme focuses on local and regional challenges, provides knowledge about the blue economy, shares opportunities in the region with the WestMED community, helps match stakeholders with the right partners, and supports them in developing successful projects.
Commenting on Thursday’s event the EU said the Mediterranean unites us in many ways. Today, here in Libya, we celebrate our cooperation, our shared identity, our partnership, and our Mediterranean heritage. Our similarities largely outweigh our differences, as we all share a common Mediterranean identity.
Today, the Mediterranean has become a forum for dialogue: the political and economic dimension of this initiative defines the priorities of our work to achieve sustainable, inclusive and blue growth, through a common regional agenda and vision.
Elaborating, the EU said Libya is one of the main countries in the Mediterranean Sea, with a coastline of more than 1,900 kilometres, and a continental shelf of more than 50,000 square kilometres, in addition to more than 70 coastal cities and villages, sea and commercial ports, fisheries and aquaculture.
