From 18 to 20 June, over 1.000 CSOs, youth leaders, media outlets, policymakers, and institutional actors from the Euro-Med Region met in Tirana, Albania, for the 2025 ALForum, to address shared regional challenges through structured discussions and thematic panels under the motto “From Knowledge to Action: Redefining Dialogue in the Euro-Mediterranean Region”.
The event – organized by the Anna Lindh Foundation, an intergovernmental organization committed to intercultural cooperation across the Mediterranean region – coincided with Tirana’s designation, along with the Egyptian city of Alexandria, as the Mediterranean Capital of Culture and Dialogue 2025 and with the 30 years of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, an initiative that reshaped the relations between the two shores.
Important institutional attendees animated the Forum plenary sessions, such as Edi Rama, Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania, Stefano Sannino, Director General for the MENA Region and the Gulf Directorate of the European Commission, Anuela Ristani, Acting Mayor of Tirana, and HRM Princess Rym Ali, President of the ALF. Dozens of parallel sessions gave voice to Mediterranean CSOs’ representatives and addressed pressing issues such as disinformation, green transition, youth mobility, innovation and digital citizenship, justice and reconciliation.
As part of this major regional gathering, COPEAM organized and moderated the panel “Shared Narratives, Stronger Ties: the role of audiovisual media foe euro-Mediterranean cooperation” held on June 19. The panelists Markus Nikel (RAI/Italy), Dina Abdelmeguid (NMA/Egypt), Assem Neama (Modawala/Egypt) and Linda Mutawi (Film Producer – Palestine/Sweden) pointed out a number of best practices able to strengthen cross-border cooperation and foster dialogue in and through TV, radio, cinema and podcast. Challenges were also explored, in a time when international collaboration cannot simply be technical but should acknowledge power unbalances and rely on shared ethical values.
A team of radio and TV journalists from COPEAM network also attended the Forum, providing a rich selection of interviews and insights directly from the field.
A special episode of the international radio magazine Kantara is being dedicated to this Euro-Med initiative and aired on Radio Le Caire/Egypt, Radio Tunis Chaîne Internationale/Tunisia, 2M Radio and Chaîne Inter/Morocco, Radio Liban 96.2 /Lebanon, REE/Spain, ici RCFM/France, also available as online podcast.