Condolences for the death of Baltasar Porcel

02/07/09 – The European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) expresses its sincere condolences for the loss of the writer and journalist Baltasar Porcel, who has died in Barcelona, aged 72. In 1989, the Majorcan writer founded the Catalan Institute of the Mediterranean – predecessor of today’s IEMed – with the support of the Government of Catalonia. Under his direction until 2000, the Institute fostered understanding and promotion of Mediterranean cultures, as well as encouraging cooperation and dialogue in the region.

In this respect, the Institute was decisively involved in the launch of the Barcelona Process with the organisation in 1995 of the 1st Euro-Mediterranean Civil Forum, which brought together in the Catalan capital 1,200 distinguished experts and actors from Mediterranean civil society. Since then, the Institute has become a centre of reference in the monitoring and invigoration of the Barcelona Process and in the search for a Euro-Mediterranean area of peace, stability and shared prosperity, and of dialogue and cooperation between peoples.

The IEMed hosts the presentation
of the book Crònica àrab de la conquesta de Mallorca

26/05/09 – The Catalan edition of the book Crònica àrab de la conquesta de Mallorca, by the al-Andalusian Ibn Amira Al-Mahzumi (1184-1251), has been presented at the IEMed in a roundtable. This chronicle is the only Muslim account of the fall of Majorca and is a counterpoint to the Llibre des feits de Jaume I. Given its historical value, it has been published in Catalan and Spanish by the Government of the Balearic Islands and the University of the Balearic Islands.

Roundtable “Immigration and Social Policies”

22/05/09 - The IEMed has hosted the debate “Immigration and Social Policies”, which was attended by Marta Domènech, member of the promoting team of the Canovelles Town Council Citizenry Plan; Albert Terrones, Housing Officer at the Diputació de Barcelona, and Núria Paricio, President of the Fundació Tot Raval. It is the last session in a cycle by the IEMed which, between 2008 and 2009, has analysed the social changes brought about by migrations.
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OECD and IEMed seminar to foster
business development in North Africa

19/05/09 - Barcelona, headquarters of the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), has held a seminar organised by the IEMed and the OECD with the objective of debating methods and experiences to improve the capacity of the countries of North Africa and the Middle East to attract private investment and promote the growth of their small- and medium-sized enterprises. Thirty experts from the OECD and countries of this region participated.

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