MedCities secretariat traveled to Sousse and Oujda this month to discuss the launching of the LASERMed project in both cities.

A series of meetings and field visits were held in Sousse, Tunisia on the 25th February, and in Oujda, Morocco, the 2nd March. In both cases the local teams mobilised the relevant city council services in charge of local development or international cooperation relations, together with the two local experts. The local experts are currently supporting the diagnosis phases, identifying key stakeholders to discuss the priorities of the city’s economic recovery after the global pandemic. Such diagnosis will pave the way to the identification of pilot projects which will have an important focus on sustainability and social inclusion. 

Further missions will be organised to the cities of Zgharta-Ehden, Lebanon, and As Salt, Jordan in the coming months. 

Since its kick off meeting last January, LASERMed has advanced in the definition of a common strategy to develop local diagnosis and identify pilot projects to be implemented during the second and core phase of the project. 

LASERMed project (“Local action for the socioeconomic recovery in the Mediterranean: the cities respond”) is ‎funded by the Diputació de Barcelona and is led by MedCities in association with the municipalities of Zgharta-Ehden (Lebanon), Oujda (Morocco), Sousse (Tunisia), As Salt (Jordan). The project aims to provide a tailored support to municipalities in the identification and implementation of local, tangible and concerted actions to mitigate the effects of the COVID crisis and promote the recovery of strategic sectors with social value and environmental perspective.