On the occasion of the 2nd Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Ministerial Conference on Transport, Ministers reaffirmed their continued collective political support to developing a safe, secure, sustainable, efficient and connected transport system based on harmonized transport rules and standards, as well as an integrated multimodal trans-Mediterranean transport network. Ministers also reaffirmed the importance of the connectivity among the Southern Mediterranean countries, between these countries and the EU and towards inner Africa and Asia.

The Ministerial Declaration on Transport, the Evaluation Report of Regional Transport Action Plan 2014-2020 and the new Regional Transport Action Plan 2021-2027 adopted at the Ministerial Conference, will provide collective political momentum to these key goals. The UfM Regional Platform on Transport Connectivity, as well as the EU-funded projects in this field, have been serving as an efficient framework of dialogue and exchange of expertise. The UfM-supported project LOGISMED-Training Activities for instance, promoted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and implemented in five Southern Mediterranean countries in 2013-18, helped improve local workforce qualifications in the logistics sector, boosting transport and logistics in the Mediterranean. The UfM Platform will monitor the implementation of the new regional action plan in the years to come.

Ministers welcomed the work carried out and acknowledged the progress achieved in fulfilling the objectives of the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in the sector, as defined at the previous Ministerial Conference on Transport in 2013. They also stressed the importance of mobilising all available funds in a coordinated manner, all while addressing the resilience of sustainable transport systems to climate change.