Rendering Young People More Employable: The Role of the Private Sector

Hedi Larbi, former Minister of Economic Infrastructure and Sustainable Development, Tunisia

f.l.t.r.: Dr. Canan Atilgan, Director of the KAS Regional Office South Mediterranean and Alperen Eken, Chairperson of the Co-Opinion Network, Turkey

Ali Benouari, President of EcoFinance & former Minister of Treasury, Algeria

f.l.t.r.: Arda Batu, Secretary-General of the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation and Noomane Fehri, former Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Tunisia

Participants of the workshop during the discussion

Bahadır Kaleağası, CEO of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD)

Betül Soysal, Communications Director of Co-Opinion Network, Turkey

Arda Batu, Secretary-General of the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation

f.l.t.r.: Hedi Larbi, former Minister of Economic Infrastructure and Sustainable Development, Tunisia and Ali Benouari, President Ecofinance & former Minister of Treasury, Algeria

Dr. Canan Atilgan, Director of the KAS Regional Office South Mediterranean

Dilek Aydın, Representative to the EU in Brussels, Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation

The participants of the workshop

Youth unemployment represents a particularly serious problem in the southern Mediterranean region. To foster the exchange across national borders on how to tackle this challenge, the KAS Regional Office South Mediterranean organized an expert workshop entitled “Rendering Young People More Employable: The Role of the Private Sector” in cooperation with the “Co-Opinion Network” from 17 to 20 August 2017. Participants were policy-makers, academics as well as representatives of popular think-tanks and of the private sector who are active in different countries of the region. During the workshop, the role of the private sector in integrating young women and men into the labor market was highlighted, as well as the challenges and opportunities that are linked to artificial intelligence and industry 4.0. Besides, the importance of aligning the respective university curricula with the needs of the labor markets was discussed in detail. The event offered the opportunity for the experts to exchange about the current situation in the whole region as well as in several countries, and, based on this, to jointly develop possible solutions and recommendations for policy-makers.