Paralleli - Istituto Euromediterraneo del Nord Ovest

ABOUT PARALLELI

Paralleli is a non-profit institute based in Turin. It was established - on the initiative of former MEP Rinaldo Bontempi - in July 2005 by seven associations and with the support of Compagnia di San Paolo, the Piedmont Region, the Municipality and Province of Turin and other major regional institutions.
Its main objective is to promote dialogue at cultural, social and political level between the societies of the Mediterranean countries, with the aim of encouraging and improving economic relations between them, with a particular focus on the dimension of sustainability and codevelopment.
For this reason, the institute has decided:

to involve civil society in the development of Euro-Mediterranean relations,
to create and to support networking in the Mediterranean area,
to increase the value of research in order to suggest truly effective policies to local, national and international actors.

Turin, Piedmont and, more generally, North-West Italy are situated in a strategic geographic area that represents a central hub of connections and trade links between the European Union and the Mediterranean Sea basin.

The activities of the Institute fall within the process of Euro-Mediterranean partnership initiated by the European Union with the 1995 Barcelona Process and currently undergoing a major relaunch through the “Union for the Mediterranean”, since July 2008. Paralleli intends to contribute to the reinforcement of political relations, economic cooperation, cultural exchange and human flows between the European and the South-East Mediterranean countries.

MISSION

Paralleli's mandate is to contribute to the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean area of freedom and of economic and social development.
The institute acts at the local, national and international level with the aim of meeting the needs of the North-West region of Italy concerning its relations with the other sides of the Mediterranean Sea.

Its main activities are in the following domains:

Euro-Mediterranean policies at the local and global levels;
culture and intercultural dialogue, in order to create a common area of peace, freedom, economic and social development;
economy and development, ranging from human capital and financial investments between the two sides of the Mediterranean to achieve sustainability in terms of the economy, the environment and tourism;
migration, exploiting the opportunities arising from the flows of people from Mediterranean countries outside the EU, to enrich cultural, political and economic relations between the societies of the Northern and Southern sides;
information and promotion of intercultural dialogue, towards the production of correct and fair information able to represent the complex societies of the Mediterranean area.

Paralleli acts at three levels:

networking: it encourages political dialogue at local and regional level, through the implementation of networking strategies with other institutes and organisations from both sides of Mediterranean Sea. In particular, on the Northern side, Paralleli belongs to the RIM Network, together with the Institut de la Méditerranée - Marseille, IeMED – Barcelona, Las Tres Culturas – Seville, the European University Institute – Fiesole Florence, the Centre for International Political Studies, CESPI – Rome;
raising awareness and project management: it promotes public events in order to raise awareness about themes and subjects linked with the Mediterranean area, and takes part in the creation and development of projects to connect the Institute with civil society, the region and the international network. Participating in a shared process of cultural growth is at the core of Paralleli's strategy;
research: it carries out research activities in collaboration with national and international institutes, which are closely linked with training, information and project management.

Paralleli believes that the North-West Italian macro region can play an important role of leadership in the process of Euro-Mediterranean codevelopment. Its potential is considerable from many points of view, given the presence of many industries and service enterprises, the role of the banking and financial world, the concentration of knowledge, training agencies, centres of research and innovation networks, etc. In addition, it should be noted that North-West Italy is an important crossroads in Europe – in accordance with several European projects, a highly integrated transport system will be developed in the future in order to create an infrastructure network capable of sustaining the competitive challenge of the regional system in the European market and context, though, even today, the region can be an important hub connecting Europe and the Mediterranean area, thanks to its strategic position.
Fundamental political and cultural changes therefore are necessary in the future of the Mediterranean zone. Awareness amongst the leadership of this region must be increased with regard to the opportunities that will open up if the Mediterranean area is to be considered “the courtyard” of the European Union. In particular, it is of primary importance to improve collaboration with the goal of creating an integrated area of economic, cultural and political stability and to work in order to prevent the risks of the intervention of other external actors in the area.

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