Verso Sud Forum 2023



The International Mediterranean Forum: "Verso Sud (Looking Southward): Europe's strategy for a new geopolitical, economic and socio-cultural season in the Mediterranean" aims to build a public-private platform - at national and international level - gathering, in a Think Tank, the best private players, institutions, representatives from the Academia and research. The goal is to build, highlight and communicate a new Southern Italy, as the strategic Mediterranean platform for Italy and Europe.

About the event

The first edition was held on May 13-14, 2022, in Sorrento (Italy, Campania Region). The initiative continued in 2023, with a greater engagement of Southern and Mediterranean territories, so as to empower a movement that is focused on the centrality of the South of Italy and the countries on the two sides of the Mediterranean Region, to strenghten the area in the geopolitical, economic, social, and cultural dimensions.

In 2023, the event was supported by the Minister for European Affairs, the South, cohesion policies and the NRRP and Adler, Coldiretti, Edison, Gruppo FS Italiane, Intesa Sanpaolo, MSC Group, Mediocredito Centrale.

The participants

In 2023, the Forum was participated by Ministers, business leaders and opinion makers from the South of Italy, together with representatives from countries in the Mediterranean, who will debate on the topics and projects listed in the new edition of the "White Book".

The topics

• The key role of the Economy of the Sea for the competitiveness and the creation of value in the South of Italy and the Mediterranean
• The role of the infrastructural investments for the South and the Mediterranean and models for promoting their development 
• The challenge of Human Capital at the test of energy, and digital transition
• Climate change and energy transition, good practices, guidelines, and the role of the business community
• Investments in the productive sector and the challenge of supply chain reconfiguration.

During the event, other than the new "White Book", we presented the 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.