Youth can be driver of OSCE Mediterranean Partnership, participants highlight at 2016 OSCE Mediterranean Conference

VIENNA, 6 October 2016 – The OSCE Mediterranean Partnership is growing and youth should be a lead actor to take dialogue and co-operation forward, participants emphasized in the 2016 OSCE Mediterranean conference, which concluded today in Vienna.

"Besides the persistence of violent conflicts, the massive refugee and migration crisis as well as the growth of radicalization and extremism, particularly amongst young persons, are the biggest challenges,” said Sebastian Kurz Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria. “I truly hope that this conference will strengthen the networks of co-operation between OSCE participating states and Mediterranean Partners." 

OSCE Secretary General Zannier said that the OSCE Mediterranean Partnership for Co-operation is as relevant as ever, yet its potential is still to be fully tapped. “We must now focus on a positive agenda for Mediterranean co-operation, and youth can greatly help us with that. To overcome present challenges, we must tap into the experiences and perspectives of youth representatives and leaders who are only now entering the center stage but who will shape the future of our societies over the coming decades.”

The conference, hosted by the Austrian Chairmanship of the OSCE Mediterranean Contact Group and the OSCE Secretariat, gathered more than 400 representatives from OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation, as well as high-level representatives from the UN Support Mission in Libya, the League of Arab States, the Union for the Mediterranean, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, youth organizations north and south of the Mediterranean, think tanks, academic institutions and the media. Youth representatives from north and south of the Mediterranean participated actively in the conference.

Mohammed Taher Siala, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of National Accord of Libya, attended the conference and reiterated Libya’s interest in joining the OSCE Mediterranean Partnership.

The OSCE has a long-standing Mediterranean Partnership with Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.