Verso Sud Forum 2024



The International Mediterranean Forum: "Verso Sud (Looking Southward): Europe's strategy for a new geopolitical, economic and socio-cultural season in the Mediterranean" is an international public-private platform launched in collaboration with and under the patronage of the Italian Government, with the aim of bringing together, in a single think tank, the best companies and Institutions and representatives of academy and research, in order to build, enhance and communicate a new idea of Southern Italy and the Mediterranean.

The 3rd edition edition started with the goal of achieving a greater engagement of Southern and Mediterranean territories than what has been done so far. This region is currently affected by wars, crises and tensions, with unprecedented human and socio-economic costs. Our role is supporting the elaboration of content and proposals for policies and extended collaboration, placing Italy and, in particular, the South, at the centre of this effort and continuing to promote dialogue, mutual understanding, and the possibility of creating development through cooperation. 

The project is supported by the Minister for European Affairs, the South, cohesion policies and the NRRP, and FS Group, Intesa Sanpaolo, CISE - Confederazione Italiana Sviluppo Economico, Coldiretti, Edison, Mediocredito Centrale - Invitalia, MSC Group, and Adler Group.

The "Verso Sud" Forum

The final event took place on May 17-18, in Sorrento, with a preview on May 16 that was dedicated to the youth. 

In 2024, the initiative gathered representatives of countries of the Euro-Mediterranean area, including speakers and heads of national and foreign companies. It hosted, among others, Italy's Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the PNRR, Raffaele Fitto, and the Minister for Civil protection and Marine Policies, Nello Musumeci, in the presence of the Advisory Board, made up of TEHA, Partner companies and institutions, and the Scientific Committee.

Scientific Committee

Francesco De Core (Director, Il Mattino; Deputy Director, Il Corriere dello Sport), Arancha González Laya (Dean, Sciences Po - Paris School for International Affairs; formerly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spain), Patrizia Lombardi (Vice-rector, Politecnico di Torino; President, Universities for a Sustainable Development Network - RUS), Stefano Manservisi (Professor, Sciences Po - Paris School for International Affairs and EUI School of Transnational Governance; former Director General, International Cooperation and Development, European Commission).

The topics

The third edition explored the challenges of attractiveness of Southern Italy in the Euro-Mediterranean framework, starting from:

• Proofs of Cooperation and Peace in the Mediterranean: Middle-East Horizon; Balkan Horizon
• Beyond Food Security, Food as a Tool for Growth, Dialogue and Soft Power; Focus on the "Mattei Plan"
  
• The Demography and Human Capital Challenge
• A New Energy Vision for the South
• The Voice of the Regions
  
• Investments for Growth: infrastructures; sea as a resource: maritime security, emerging and adapting supply chains; innovation and business networking

During the event, we presented the new edition of the "White Book" of the Verso Sud project, and the updated Mediterranean Sustainable Development Index (MSDI), an innovative monitoring index for the positioning of South Italy within the Mediterranean, with regards to the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN's 2030 Agenda.