UfM promoting sustainable urban development in the Mediterranean

The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) held on 9-10 June the Urban Projects Finance Initiative (UPFI) Workshop at its headquarters in Barcelona. The meeting brought together for the first time all actors involved in the UPFI process- namely project promoters, financial partners and consultant teams-, marking the start of the second phase of the initiative.

UPFI’s purpose is to identify and select sustainable and innovative urban development projects that offer bottom-up, regionally replicable solutions to the major urban development challenges facing the region.

While the first phase of the initiative focused on the selection of the projects and the definition of the Technical Assistance needed, the second phase will consist on the implementation of the identified Technical Assistance programmes with a view to ensuring the projects’ bankability by International Finance Institutions.

The workshop gathered major urban planning players such as the Minister for Urban Renewal and Informal Areas of Egypt, Laila Iskandar; the Secretary of State for Housing of the Government of Tunisia, Anis Ghdira and the mayor of Jericho (Palestine), Mohammed Jalayta. Among the 60 participants, there were as well representatives of 15 UPFI projects from 6 countries, namely Bouregreg-Rabat Salé, Tétouan, Benguerir and Agadir (Morocco); Gabes, Sfax-Taparura and Médinas (Tunisia); Imbaba-Giza and Esna (Egypt); Nablus, Bethlehem and Jericho (Palestine); Lod (Israel); and the II Project of local and regional development (Jordan), attended the one-day meeting.

“The UfM Secretariat plays a role of 'trust third party' amongst different countries for the exchange of information and the projects implementation to be assured and for the cooperation logics to prevail because this is what makes it more efficient and visible the action of each partner , said Secretary General Fathallah Sijilmassi. “The Urban Project Finance Initiative (UPFI) can be an example for other fields in which regional cooperation represents a real added value , added Sijilmassi.

UPFI is one of the pillars of the Euro-Mediterranean Sustainable Urban Development Strategy, as stated in the declaration of the First Ministerial Conference of the UfM on Sustainable Urban Development, held in Strasbourg on 10 November 2011. The initiative was launched during the Senior Officials Meeting on 7 April 2014, and received the endorsement of the representatives of the 43 UfM member countries. Three projects have already been labelled by the UfM under the framework of this initiative: the Imbaba Upgrading Project, the Sfax Taparura project and the Bouregreg Valley Development.

The Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) has launched a project on capacity building designed to strengthen the institutional and administrative capacity of local and regional authorities in urban governance. This pilot project, targeted to UPFI municipalities, aims to promote an integrated urban development that would complement the UPFI projects of the UfM in the field of institutional capacity building.

Source: Union for the Mediterranean