The 23 and 24 of March, MedCities participated in the MedCatDays 2022, an event co-organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Catalan Government and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), with the collaboration of the MedCoopAlliance.

The aim of this event was to explore in an integrated and parallel way both the European approach in promoting the so-called ‘twin transitions’ in the Mediterranean and the model developed in Catalonia, discussing about the lessons learned so far, as well as how can territorial cooperation contribute to promote the green and digital transition in the Mediterranean.

The Secretary General of MedCities, Josep Canals participated, together with all the members of the Mediterranean Cooperation Alliance, in the panel “A renewed governance in the Mediterranean: towards a macro-regional strategy”, during the session “The Green and Digital Transition in the framework of the new agenda for the Mediterranean” of the 24^th of March.

The Secretary General highlighted the role of local governments in the implementation of the projects, as well as the importance of including municipalities and mayors in the development of the macro-regional strategy, as municipalities are change agents.

Josep Canals talked as well about the important role of involving local governments as they are directly involved in the civil society and citizen’s concerns.

You can watch the full intervention of the MedCities Secretary General here.

On the other hand, the Director of MedCities, Oriol Barba, was part of the panels of discussion about “Sustainable development, circular economy and adaptation to climate change” and “The Green and Digital Transition in the framework of the new agenda for the Mediterranean”.

During the session of the 23^th March, about sustainable development, circular economy and adaptation to climate change, Oriol Barba highlighted the experience of MedCities working in cooperation in the South of the Mediterranean, as well as he talked about three essential points to help us rethinking cooperation, in relation with MedCities projects:

• Investing: Providing more funds in order to transform in a tangible way the reality of the local governments.
• Including mechanisms of evaluation that are easy to assure an efficient implementation.
• Working with a perspective of innovation and flexibility in the implementation of projects: Efficient projects that allow obtaining good results.

The Mediterranean Cooperation Alliance is a unique network of networks which scope is to point out the value of multilevel transnational governance in the Mediterranean, with the aim of assuring the local and territorial challenges are took into account by political actors, as well as contributing to the global Agenda.