The 12th edition of the Mediterranean Week of Economic Leaders (MedaWeek Barcelona), from November 21st to 23rd in Barcelona and will bring together representatives of the Mediterranean Economic World, the EU and Africa, It will address many issues and topics useful to economic and social development of the Euromed.
Halal Mediterranean Forum
The forum, organized by the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the Mediterranean (ASCAME), together with the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona and the Halal Institute of Spain, will address the opportunities, trends and investments of the sector in several sessions.
The halal industry not only includes banking and finance but also the food, tourism, fashion, pharmacy and cosmetics sectors, among others.
The number of companies that want to get the halal certification has been growing in recent years, since Muslims represent 23% of the world population, with more than 1.6 billion people.
The halal industry is valued at more than two trillion dollars, excluding banking and finance, and it is estimated that by 2023 the industry will reach three trillion dollars. Food and Beverage is the leading sector, with 1.3 trillion dollars, followed by Fashion and Textile, with 270,000 million; Media and Recreation, with 209,000 million; the Tourism and Travel sector with 177,000 million and the Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic, with 148,000 million.
The countries that consume the most halal are Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan, while Asia is the most important continent of halal consumption, since it represents 64% of the total, and the Middle East, Africa and Europe register the highest growth.
The forum will allocate a special session to debate the redefinition of the procedures that regulate this halal industry and its new standards. Spain has 550 companies with halal certification, although, according to the organizers of the forum, the potential of the Mediterranean agricultural sector, especially Spanish and Catalan, is enormous.
Mediterranean Hotel Forum
Under the theme “Towards sustainability in Mediterranean hotels”, the forum, which will be held on November 23, aims to promote cooperation to consolidate the Mediterranean’s tourism leadership and will also serve to analyze the key aspects for the development of this sector, as the sustainable development in these establishments.
This forum will also discuss one of the great needs of the hotel and restaurant sector, such as the challenge of training and professional development of young people, since one in ten jobs created worldwide in the year 2017 took place within the tourism sector.
The main representatives, entrepreneurs and scholars of the hotel sector of several Mediterranean countries will talk about the investment opportunities and aspirations of the Mediterranean hotels, which represent 20% of the world hotel capacity, with more than 100,000 hotels and a million restaurants.
The Mediterranean has become one of the main world tourist destinations with a forecast of 420 million tourists by the year 2020.
Among the top 10 world tourist destinations by volume of tourist arrivals in 2017, there were four Mediterranean countries, France, Spain, Italy and Turkey, which registered a total of 264,6 million tourists. In addition, last year, with the improvement of tourism in Egypt, Morocco and the strong increase in tourist arrivals in Tunisia, the southern Mediterranean Europe region and North Africa registered a 30% market share worldwide.
Supply and demand of natural gas in the Mediterranean
The MedaWeek 2018 will address new expectations and challenges about the discovery of natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean and its economic implications. This area could turn into one of the main global areas of gas supply, since the estimated resources are about 122 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The organizers of the meeting stressed that to make this happen, the countries of the region should implement the mechanisms of regional cooperation necessary to attract private investment, boost regional economic growth and build up the ground base for the economic take-off in the region.
In addition, they consider that the exploitation of Mediterranean gas and the construction of a Mediterranean natural gas market is an opportunity for the European Union to limit its dependence on Russian gas.
The demand of natural gas from the Mediterranean countries practically doubled in the last two decades and the forecast is that its growth will be maintained at a rate of 1.9% per year until the year 2035.
For the stakeholders of this event, the internal and geopolitical problems are the main causes of risk. These believe that some countries will have to join their forces to make a better use of them.
The complete program of the MedaWeek 2018 forum can be downloaded at this link:
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