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Med-Or Day: Marking two years of the Foundation’s activities
The third edition of the Med-Or Foundation’s annual event took place in Rome
The third edition of Med-Or Day, the Foundation’s annual event, took place on 19 July 2023, in Rome.
At the opening, Med-Or Chairman Marco Minniti and Minister of Defence Guido Crosetto introduced a panel discussion on “Italy, Europe, the Mediterranean: for a new vision of the national interest”, between Roberto Cingolani, CEO of Leonardo, and Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Fincantieri, moderated by Monica Maggioni.
Med-Or Day took place exactly two years after the inauguration of the Foundation’s headquarters, which marked the beginning of its activities. The event was also an opportunity for a quick evaluation of the work done by the organization in the last two years. Over this period, Med-Or established many important collaborations, both in research and higher education, and signed agreements with institutions in countries across the Broader Mediterranean, such as Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Niger, Yemen, Qatar, Somalia and Sudan. There were also openings towards the Indo-Pacific with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam. Additionally, Med-Or launched activities and signed agreements with important research centres and cultural institutions in countries like Israel, Morocco, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates and developed various cooperation projects with Italian universities. It funded scholarships for foreign students – from Ethiopia, Morocco, Somalia and Tunisia – to complete higher education through master’s degrees, executive courses and internships, and supported research by funding PhD scholarships in Italy. At the same time, Med-Or launched support projects for education and training abroad – for example in Lebanon – and programmes for teaching Italian in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. Moreover, during the past 12 months, Med-Or strengthened its international outreach through the organisation of two international conferences in Rome, one on Niger and one Somalia – which saw the participation of the Presidents of both countries – and of the first meeting of the organisation’s International Board.
Med-Or, working side by side with Italian institutions, will continue to carry out its international activities in the coming months, with new projects – for example, in the research sector – and new educational programmes, paying particular attention to international cooperation. The balance of the two years of activity, which is highly positive, concretely demonstrates how the Foundation is rapidly consolidating, also thanks to its high-level public relations.
