The Western Mediterranean Forum on Higher Education, Research and Innovation
The 5+5 Dialogue is a sub-regional forum for dialogue between ten Western Mediterranean countries and it promotes cooperation in science, technology and higher education.
The Maghreb countries involved are Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, and the European nations are France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.
The members agree on the importance of research and higher education for the development of knowledge, the promotion of technologies and national innovation systems for the purpose of attaining socioeconomic growth and bearing the different challenges that the region faces, such as, unemployment, economic underdevelopment, environmental degradation, shortage of natural resources and serious scarcity of water and energy.
The Ministers in charge of Research, Innovation and Higher Education of the 5+5 Dialogue member countries are committed to foster promotion of research, innovation and higher education for social stability and economic growth. Many countries are engaged in processes of reforming their political, economic and social systems to stimulate investment, to encourage initiative and to foster strong economic partnerships that are essential throughout the Western Mediterranean region. The 5+5 Dialogue member countries need to revitalize their economies to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth for the purpose of developing disadvantaged regions and enhancing job creation in line with international labour market standards. Therefore, research, innovation and higher education play a key role in job creation. Moreover, for this reason, there is a need for a solid framework of cooperation and conducive synergies among the ten countries.
Within this framework, the 5+5 Dialogue 5+5 countries are encouraged to continue cooperation with the Secretariat of the UfM and build on possible synergies with relevant UfM initiatives and projects such as the Mediterranean Initiative for Jobs (Med4Jobs), the Euro-Mediterranean University of Fes and the EMUNI University.
