Background: The MEDays Forum and Its Significance

Founded in 2008, the MEDays Forum is an annual international conference held in Tangier, Morocco, under the high patronage of King Mohammed VI. It has grown into a strategic meeting point for global policymakers, business leaders, and experts, with a special focus on the Global South. Often dubbed the “Forum of the South,” MEDays serves as a platform for voices from Africa, the Arab world, the Mediterranean, and beyond — including Asia and Latin America — to engage on equal footing with global partners.

Each year, thousands of participants convene to debate critical geopolitical, economic, and social issues, seeking practical solutions and strengthening North–South and South–South cooperation. The forum’s president and founder, Brahim Fassi Fihri, has described MEDays as an opportunity “to build a more resilient, fairer, more equitable, and more united world,” emphasizing that it is “more than ever, the ‘Forum of the South’,” open to all actors wishing to shape a new global order. Such positioning has made MEDays a prominent international think-fest — sometimes compared to a “Davos of the South” — where developing nations’ perspectives and priorities gain a global audience.

Tangier 2025: Fractures and Polarization in Focus

The 17th edition of the MEDays Forum took place in Tangier from November 26 to 29, 2025, transforming the coastal city into a hub of international diplomacy. The venue, Tangier’s Palais des Arts et de la Culture, welcomed delegations from around the world for four days of intensive discussions. The 2025 forum convened against a fraught global backdrop — from great-power rivalries and regional conflicts to economic uncertainties — prompting this year’s theme: “Fractures & Polarization: Reinventing the Global Equation.”

Organizers said the forum would confront the intensifying geopolitical tensions and the shifting international landscape while exploring how countries of the Global South can help reshape global cooperation. The theme reflects an urgent need to address widening rifts between nations and within societies, and to imagine new frameworks for a more balanced, multipolar world order. “The challenge is no longer just about navigating crises, but about reinventing a more balanced and inclusive global equation,” the organizers emphasized.

High-Profile Global Participation

MEDays 2025 attracted an array of notable figures from across continents, reflecting its global reach and South-centric ethos. From Africa, several current and former heads of state headlined the forum — among them Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, and Faustin-Archange Touadéra, President of the Central African Republic. West Africa had a strong presence as well, with leaders like Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone, and José Maria Neves, President of Cape Verde. The forum also welcomed prime ministers and top officials from various nations, such as Amadou Oury Bah (Guinea), Judith Suminwa Tuluka (D.R. Congo), and Roosevelt Skerrit (Dominica). Regional organizations were represented by figures like Hadja Mémounatou Ibrahima, Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament.

MEDays bridges North–South dialogue. High-level guests from Europe included Péter Szijjártó, Foreign Minister of Hungary, and former European heads of government such as Danilo Türk (Slovenia) and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain). From Asia and the Middle East, policy veterans like Amr Moussa (former Secretary-General of the Arab League) joined scholars and business leaders from China, India, and the Gulf. Latin America’s perspective was brought by ex-presidents such as Ernesto Samper (Colombia) and Alejandro Toledo (Peru). Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Wałęsa (former Polish President) also featured among distinguished elder statesmen.

International institutions had a seat at the table: for instance, Valentine Rugwabiza, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Central Africa, contributed insights on multilateral crisis management. This broad participation — spanning more than a hundred countries in recent editions — underscores how MEDays has become a magnet for global dialogue and a rare space where voices from developing and developed nations intersect on global issues.

Agenda Highlights: Key Themes and Topics

From geopolitics to technology, the MEDays 2025 agenda mirrored the world’s most urgent debates, viewed through a Global South lens.

• Geostrategic tensions & multilateralism: A headline session — “The Crisis of Multilateralism: Has Climate Diplomacy Finally Died?” — examined how fractures between major powers are hampering coordinated action on climate, peace, and security, and what more inclusive diplomacy could look like.
• Economic sovereignty & development: The MEDays Investment Summit convened entrepreneurs, financiers, and ministers to explore resilient growth, from industrial policy to trade under AfCFTA. Panels such as “Fintech & Digital Transformation” spotlighted Africa’s tech and digital-finance leapfrogging.
• Climate change & energy transition: Leaders from Africa and Small Island Developing States pressed for climate-resilience financing and just energy transitions, while industry voices discussed scaling solar, wind, and green hydrogen for domestic use and export.
• Regional security & governance: Urgent dialogues covered the Sahel’s instability, coups, and terrorism, as well as Middle East crises. Several sessions reiterated support for a two-state solution as the framework for Israeli–Palestinian peace.
• Human development: Education, youth employment, migration, healthcare, and gender equality remained central, with emphasis on investing in young people’s skills to capture Africa’s demographic dividend and on fighting corruption to attract investment.

Major Discussions and Outcomes

A dominant refrain was the need to reinvent multilateral cooperation to better include the Global South. Speakers argued that developing countries should be co-authors — not just rule-takers — of new global rules. The closing notes stressed that multipolarity can mean complementarity and strategic balance, not instability, if institutions are reformed to reflect today’s realities.

On the economic front, curated networking during the MEDays Investment Summit catalyzed partnership announcements. Gulf investors signaled co-financing appetite for African infrastructure and digital ventures; renewable-energy entrepreneurs explored Sahel electrification initiatives; and tech leaders pledged skills programs. The forum’s design — blending public panels with private sideline meetings — is tailored to turn ideas into deals.

Diplomatically, MEDays enabled a series of bilateral encounters between visiting leaders and Moroccan officials, strengthening ties across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. The forum again closed with the MEDays Awards, highlighting contributions to South–South cooperation and global development, in line with the forum’s mission to recognize and amplify constructive leadership.

Diplomatic Undercurrents and Controversies

While MEDays is officially non-partisan and inclusive, it reflects elements of Morocco’s foreign-policy agenda, notably on Western Sahara. In past editions, some leaders publicly endorsed Morocco’s autonomy plan, and in 2022 participants launched the “Tangier Call” urging the African Union to review the status of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic — moves praised in Morocco but debated elsewhere in Africa.

Beyond Western Sahara, the forum navigated sensitive topics such as the Russia–Ukraine war and China’s global role. European delegates stressed international-law violations; many Global South voices emphasized humanitarian and economic fallout and called for diplomacy. Discussions around Chinese investment balanced praise for infrastructure gains with caution on debt risks. The breadth of viewpoints is MEDays’ strength — and a tightrope — keeping dialogue open while avoiding acrimony.

Impact and Takeaways

For Morocco, the 17th MEDays reinforced its image as an active diplomatic broker and champion of South-South cooperation, aligning with King Mohammed VI’s vision of Africa and the wider Global South collaborating on shared challenges. By bringing leaders from distant regions to Tangier, Morocco positions itself as a bridge between Africa, the Arab world, and other regions.

For attendees, MEDays delivered a space to network and influence. African leaders coordinated messages on climate finance and fairer trade; smaller states bonded over common development challenges; and external partners gained a clearer read on Global South priorities. MEDays’ conclusions, while non-binding, contribute to a growing body of thought on reforming multilateralism, investing in youth, accelerating climate-aligned development, and expanding South–South trade.

The broader takeaway: despite the year’s theme of fractures and polarization, the forum exemplified the possibility of dialogue. As organizers note, the South “has its own forum” — and in Tangier this year, that forum pulsed with the energy of a world in flux, striving to find common ground.

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Planning to attend the MEDays Forum in Tangier?
Make the most of your stay by choosing from the city’s hotels — from luxury resorts overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar to charming riads in the heart of the medina. Tangier offers accommodations for every style and budget, just minutes from the event venues. Book early to secure your place and enjoy Moroccan hospitality while being close to all the action.

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