The second annual event of the Ponza Prima-Med initiative was held on the Island of Ponza, on September 13-14, 2020.
In view of the Euro-Med Summit , scheduled for November 26, 2020, celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration, Mediterranean Perspectives organized the first annual Euro-Mediterranean inter-institutional conference on sustainability, under the patronage of the Italian Network for the Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue (RIDE), Head of Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) in Italy, in cooperation with the PRIMA Foundation, the Italian Secretariat of the PRIMA Foundation, the Union for Mediterranean (UpM), the Municipality of Ponza and the Pontine Archipelago Community (now Union of Municipalities of Ponza and Ventotene).
Inspired by the Ventotene Manifesto, written in 1941 by Altiero Spinelli, the conference participants launched a new Euro-Med Manifesto on sustainable development focusing on climate change, circular economy and food security, agreeing on a common Euro-Med agenda to promote sustainable ideals, such as the creation of a water-nutrition system – in the same Archipelago where eighty years ago Altiero Spinelli suggested a democratic and united European rebirth – , proposing to restore the Turtledoves Villa (Villa delle Tortore), located in the heart of the Island of Ponza, in order to convert it into a Center for Higher Education and Science Diplomacy on Sustainability.
Based on the principles and the values promoted in the text of the 1995 Barcelona Declaration, the Euro-Med partnership encourages the cause of a peaceful and sustainable future for the area in which culture, economy and security play a crucial role. With this in mind, the proposal for transformation of the Turtledoves Villa – visited by the participants of the event on September 13, 2020 – can be the stable location for exchanges of information, project activities, and ideas with the ultimate goal of offering concrete solutions to unemployment among young people in the Mediterranean region, also taking advantage of the United Nations 2030 Agenda‘s new economic opportunities. The proposed Center can play a decisive role in the development of appropriate interconnections with the best educational and professional experiences in the Mediterranean area, in order to bridge the gap between qualified training and current labour market trends.