Middle East and North Africa Day

On Friday 5 February 2016, the Algerian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Tunisian and Lebanese students of the College of Europe in Natolin organized the Middle East and North Africa Day (MENA).

The highlight of the day was a special conference on the MENA's cultural heritage and political transformation given jointly by H.E. Mr Youssef ZADA, Ambassador of Egypt to Poland, H.E. Mr Youns TIJANI, Ambassador of Morocco to Poland, Ms Amina ACHEMLAL, Economic and Cultural Consul of Morocco, and Mr Lassouani YACINE, First Consul of Algeria to Poland. Professor Pascaline WINAND, Director of Studies of the EIS programme, chaired the conference.

H.E. Mr Youssef ZADA gave a speech on Egyptian civilization and the current political situation in Egypt. Concerning the political status in Egypt, he stated that the current parliament is a step forward towards the democratic path as it has a considerable number of young parliamentarians and women. It’s worth mentioning that Egyptian females hold 87 seats of the total representation after the parliamentarian elections last November 2015. H.E. Mr Youns TIJANI talked about the current reforms implemented by the Moroccan government to enhance the socio-economic conditions for the Moroccan citizens. He mentioned that a series of political reforms in the field of democracy and rule of law have been adopted by King Mohamed VI of Morocco. In addition, the government is applying economic reforms on certain sectors, such as agriculture, tourism and services and advocates for South-South cooperation with many countries. He also referred to the important EU-Moroccan relations that have a long historical background.

The Natolin Restaurant celebrated this particular day with some exotic meals: an oriental breakfast, and a MENA lunch & dinner. The celebrations were concluded in Chopint, Natolin’s student bar, with a Mediterranean night.