On 15 and 16 October 2025, the 18th UfM regional Platform on Sustainable Blue Economy took place in Brussels, Belgium.
Key points on the agenda of the 18th UfM Regional Platform Platform on SBE included the launch of the Ocean Pact and of the future EASTMED Support/Initiative, linking also to the incoming Med Pact. At technical level, in the framework of the continued progress towards the implementation of the 2021 UfM Ministerial Declaration on SBE and its related Roadmap, the updated version of the Roadmap was shared and presented to the members of the Regional Platform.
Tracking/measuring progress over time, the meeting also served as a valuable opportunity to present the results of the External Evaluation of the 2021 Ministerial, and for countries to report on progress achieved, under the agreed upon Monitoring, Reporting, and Evaluation system of the Roadmap/Ministerial. In addition to this, ongoing synergies with the WestMED Initiative and other key strategic partners, projects, programmes, and strategies across the region were also shared and discussed, including but not limited to: Interreg Euro-Med and Next-Med; the Mission Restore our Oceans / BlueMissionMed; S3 partnerships on SBE; the BBNJ; EUSAIR; the UfM-labelled Plastic Busters Initiative; the Mediterranean Blue Carbon Strategy (IUCN-Med); and key EMFAF/EU-funded projects including CallMeBlue on maritime clusters, and on maritime transport and ports, etc.
The PPTs of the meeting are available here.