Portugal assumes the Presidency of the 5+5 Research, Innovation and Higher Education Dialogue
Portugal will have the mission of chairing the 5+5 Research, Innovation and Higher Education Dialogue for the period 2022-24. This announcement was made at the 5th Ministerial Conference held within the scope of this Dialogue, in which Portugal was represented by President of the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Madalena Alves. The conference took place on 11 October, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, still under the Mauritanian Presidency and Italy’s Vice Presidency for the period 2019-2022.
In the 5th Ministerial Conference was adopted a Ministerial Declaration and Work Plan, signed by the 5+5 member Countries of this Dialogue between the two margins of Mediterranean Sea, namely, Spain, France, Italy, Malta and Portugal, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia. The Ministerial Declaration aims to build the “Partnership in Scientific Research, Innovation and Higher Education to promote cooperation, social cohesion, youth employment and sustainable development in the Western Mediterranean Region”.
For Portugal, the main objective of this Presidency will be to promote cooperation, social cohesion, the youth employment and the sustainable development of this region through the implementation of new networking tools, fostering open research and innovation close to socio-economic development, as the institutional ecosystems of R&I and Higher Education are strengthened, promoting quality and combined learning practices for the development of skills and talent circulation, with a focus on the Sustainable Blue Economy.
Portugal embraces this challenging mission with conviction and strong commitment, in a joint effort that will certainly strengthen and consolidate the cooperation between the scientific communities of all the countries of this Dialogue.
FCT News