(Paris/Madrid, 14th May 2014). The partnership between the ESMED network and the Mont-Blanc Meetings Association will strengthen social and solidarity economy in the Mediterranean region, where 500,000 enterprises employ 7,000,000 people.
Both are multinational platforms, composed by entities from 19 countries (Algeria, Belgium, Cameroon, Comoros, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Morocco, Mali, Portugal, Quebec, Spain, Senegal, Tunisia and Turkey), and have signed a joint statement which includes actions to promote social and solidarity economy as an tool that generates economic and social wealth.
Mr. Juan Antonio Pedreño, President of the Spanish Business Confederation of Social Economy (CEPES), that coordinates the ESMED network, has declared that "this agreement will contribute to increase the visibility of the contribution of social and solidarity economy to the social and economic development in the Mediterranean, that may be unknown even for social and solidarity economy actors and for the other regions of the world".
Mr. Pedreño also stressed that "for the ESMED network, as the institutional reference Mediterranean platform of the social and solidarity economy, it is a priority to work with other stakeholders to put in place initiatives in favor of this entrepreneurial model". In this regard, the President of CEPES added that "the Mont-Blanc Meetings is the international reference for the social and solidarity economy".
The Declaration signed by the ESMED Network and the Association of the Mont Blanc Meetings also intends to sensitize the youthfrom the South of the Mediterranean about the opportunities afforded by the social and solidarity economy, which generates job and sustainable economic growth as well as local and rural level. .
Moreover, Thierry Jeantet, President of the Mont-Blanc Meetings, highlighted that "the important alliance between the International Forum of the Social and Solidarity Economy Entrepreneurs - The Mont-Blanc Meetings and the ESMED network will promote concrete initiatives, mobilizing leaders of associations, cooperatives, mutual societies and foundations in the framework of an intergenerational dialogue. In particular, the Project Place of the Forum is available to the ESMED network to facilitate the creation of new enterprises or business projects among the countries in the Mediterranean region."
Mr. Pedreño and Mr. Jeantet jointly highlighed the importance of this partnership, able to contribute to a better coordination between the Euro-Mediterranean social and solidarity economy and the actions carried out by the Association of the Mont-Blanc Meetings to international organizations such as the United Nations Organization.
Esmed Network
The Euro-Mediterranean Network of Social Economy (ESMED Network) is the Social Economy Institutional reference platform in the Mediterranean. It has been created in 2000 and it is composed by 14 main representative organizations from 9 Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Egypt, Spain, France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia and Turkey). Those organizations represent together more than 500,000 Social economy enterprises that generate more than 7 million jobs. The main Network"s objectives are:
3. To facilitate the dissemination and share of experiences and information among the members of the network.
About the Association of the Mont-Blanc Meetings
The association was founded in 2004 by companies that contributed to the social and solidarity economy (SSE) : The group Chèque Déjeuner, the Maif, the Macif, the group Crédit Coopératif, the Caisse d'économie solidaire Desjardins, the Group Esfin-Ides, DSI and Fondaction, joined by AG2R La Mondiale and the Matmut, then by PFAC, (Cameroun), Aqabal (Central America), IDEAC (Dominican Republic) AMIE (Comoros), KAFO JIGINEW (Mali), P&V (Belgian)... The Association of the Mont-Blanc Meetings brings together the leaders of these organizations to increase the visibility and the international recognition of the SSE, promoting the emergence and sharing projects.
Every two years, it organizes the International Forum of the Entrepreneurs of the Social and Solidarity Economy; it is the most important meeting of the entrepreneurs of cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations, charities, and social participatory companies in the world. Political and union representatives, researchers, scholars, and representatives of the international institutions are also invited.
The Forum is an opportunity to:
??Contribute to the development of the SSE companies worldwide, bringing together their leaders, offering them a place to create common projects and collaboration;
??Call on the world leaders in order to raise their awareness on the necessity to promote this alternative form of entrepreneurship;
??Change scale, becoming everywhere a cardinal reference, so that the SSE can make a powerful contribution to change the direction of globalization;
??To encourage the emergence of joint concrete projects within a "Project Place".
You can find further information on the website: https://www.rencontres-montblanc.coop/en
