Achieving Sustainable Development Goals: The Relevance of a Nexus Approach in the Euro-Mediterranean and African Region

Fathallah Sijilmassi, Mounia Slighoua
12/05/2021

Sustainable development as a holistic framework is a top priority in the global agenda.

Abundant literature tackles Sustainable Development. But in a context characterised by global threats, such as the COVID-19 sanitation crisis, climate change and gaps in worldwide de-velopment, Sustainable Development Goals appear more relevant than ever and achieving them is more urgent than ever. To accelerate the path towards this objective, this policy pa-per advocates the need to implement a strategy, based on two pillars.

The paper defends the idea that it is of utmost importance to emphasise the need for a “nexus approach” rooted in a “geography sensitive” and “multi-scalar” vision of Sustainable Development, for targeted implementation at regional and local levels, particularly within the Euro-Mediterranean and African region. Such an approach would also be a fundamental accelerator for regional integration, which remains really weak in this part of the World. Many indicators show that the present context offers a unique opportunity to adopt such an approach and, thereby, accelerate the pace towards reaching global Sustainable Development Goals.

The paper also highlights how, considering its geostrategic position and its long-term commitment to Sustainable Development as an holistic framework, Morocco plays a preeminent role in the implementation of such an approach.

How did Covid-19 Pandemic Impact Education in Egypt?

Marwa Biltagy
27/04/2021

The main objective of this policy paper is to determine the effect of the pandemic on the Egyptian educational system. The COVID-19 pandemic leads us to respond to an actual challenge and to take real responsibility. Indeed, the new Coronavirus represents a shock to all countries, but economies that have relied on technology and ensured online services have been relatively less affected.

Policymakers can benefit from this crisis and use it as a good opportunity to introduce new learning methods, paying more attention to the quality of the educational system, dealing flexibly with technology and modern learning techniques, continuing to develop the digital platforms that have been created and integrating the concept of lifelong learning and sustainable education, in order to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction.

The author of the paper, Prof. Marwa Biltagy, is Professor of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University and member of the expert panel of Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association and researcher at the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies. She wishes to thank Prof. Rym Ayadi, Dr. Sandra Challita, Dr. Mais Shaban and Sara Ronco for their valuable comments.

Demand and Supply Exposure Through Global Value Chains: Euro-Mediterranean Countries During Covid

Rym Ayadi, Giorgia Giovannetti, Enrico Marvasi, Guilio Vannelli, Chahir Zaki
23/03/2021

This paper tries to examine how the COVID-19 shock affects different countries through their regional integration and their exposure to Global Value Chains (GVCs). Using input-output tables (EORA 2016), our contribution is threefold. First, building on Pahl et al. (2021), we conceptually revise the approaches to analyse input-output relationships.

In particular, we underline the difference between the bilateral flow of value-added and trade and distinguish between the producers and consumers of value-added. Second, we distinguish between the supply and demand channels through which these countries can be affected by the disruptions in GVCs. Third, we apply this empirical exercise on an understudied region, namely the Mediterranean region that is characterised by its involvement in several trade agreements that might boost their integration into GVCs.

Our main findings show that, first, most of the countries have relatively larger backward GVC linkages than forward ones. Second, on  the northern shore of the Mediterranean, Italy and France are net suppliers of value added since they produce more value-added absorbed abroad than the foreign value-added they consume. Third, on  the Southern shore, Tunisia is the most integrated in GVCs but is also a net consumer of foreign value added. Morocco participates in GVCs but mainly in upstream segments. In contrast, Jordan followed by Egypt, are less involved in GVCs. Fourth, our results also highlight  the limited integration between Southern shore partners, whose integration is almost completely driven by linkages with Southern European developed countries. This is why Jordan is much less affected by the shock than Tunisia and Morocco.

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