The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia, in partnership with the European Commission and Chatham House Institute, organised the 12th International Conference Africa Day from 20-21 April 2023, at Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia.
Prof. Dr. Mounir Ghribi, PhD, Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Blue Economy at the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI) appeared as a panelist for Panel 1: Smart Business Solutions for Ecological Security on the second day, presenting the approach and work of the Centre of Excellence. He also stressed the importance of youth and their engagement in achieving any potential goals of prosperity, development, stability and security.
Prof. Dr. Mounir Ghribi on Panel 1
Three of the six Euro-Mediterranean Innovation Camp (EMIC) candidates also had the honour of speaking at this year´s 12th International Conference Africa Day. Speaking for Panel 2: Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Development, the EMUNI President, Prof. Dr. Abdelhamid El-Zoheiry, presented EMIC, a unique innovation competition and boot camp for youth in the region, which was launched by EMUNI at the end of last year alongside partners Institut ‘Jožef Stefan’ (Slovenia) and Université Euro-Méditerranéenne de Fès – UEMF (Morocco), and with the support of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia, the Slovene Ministry of Education and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). Prof. Dr. El-Zoheiry went on to provide an overview of EMIC, reporting that the competition began accepting applications at the very end of 2022, and over a period of two months, received 154 applications. A total number of 32 candidates made it through to the online pitching stage before the final 6 candidates were selected and invited to innovation bootcamp.
Three of the shortlisted EMIC candidates were also panelists: Jihene Nouairi (Tunisia), Laila Mahmoud (Egypt) and Patricija Ham (Slovenia) presented their work and plans for the further development and commercialization of their innovations, which focus on environment and climate change.
EMIC candidates from middle to right: Jihene Nouairi (Tunisia), Patricija Ham (Slovenia) and Laila Mahmoud (Egypt).
Climate security was on the agenda of this year´s Africa Day event, under the core theme of ‘Africa and Europe: Climate Security for the Future – Global Challenges, Local Actions.’ The event was hosted by the Slovene Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Tanja Fajon, and was attended by ministers of foreign affairs of African and European countries, senior representatives of the European Union and the African Union, representatives of the diplomatic community, experts, researchers, representatives of NGOs, the African diaspora in Slovenia, the media and many others.
