EuroMedAI at FMIA 2025: Shaping a Mediterranean Cooperation Agenda for AI Governance

On 20–21 November 2025, EuroMedAI took part in the second edition of the Mediterranean Forum on Artificial Intelligence (FMIA 2025), hosted at the Cité de la Culture in Tunis, Tunisia. The Forum, co-organised by ALF, brought together more than 600 experts, institutions, innovators, and decision-makers from both shores of the Mediterranean to explore how AI can help address the region’s shared challenges.

Our participation focused on AI governance, ethical innovation, and building a long-term cooperation framework across the Mediterranean—and on presenting EuroMedAI as a trusted connector and knowledge hub for the Euro-Med AI community.

FMIA 2025: A Mediterranean Hub for Responsible AI

FMIA is now a flagship event for AI in the Euro-Mediterranean region. After a successful first edition in Marseille, the 2025 Forum in Tunis marked its second edition, consolidating FMIA as a space for dialogue, collaboration, and strategic reflection on AI in the region.

Organised under the aegis of the Tunisian Ministry of Communication Technologies and the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, with the support of partners including Business France, FMIA 2025 was designed to connect start-ups, large companies, researchers, international organisations, public authorities, and civil society actors.

The programme revolved around a central question: what concrete solutions can AI provide to the Mediterranean’s major challenges? Key themes included:

• Climate change and natural risk management
• Water stress and energy transition
• Agriculture and sustainable food systems
• Global health
• Education and skills
• Cultural diversity, multilingualism and open data
• International AI governance and ethics
• Financing AI in the Mediterranean

Within this broader agenda, EuroMedAI positioned itself at the intersection of governance, ethics, and cross-sector cooperation.

Bringing the Euro-Med AI Network to Tunis

At FMIA 2025, EuroMedAI’s delegation presented our network, expertise, and growing community of practitioners working at the crossroads of AI, public policy, research, civil society, and innovation across the Euro-Med space.

Throughout the Forum, we:

• Introduced EuroMedAI as a regional cooperation platform dedicated to AI governance, ethical and inclusive innovation, and intercultural dialogue in the digital age.
• Highlighted the breadth of our network, which spans researchers, civil society organisations, public institutions, entrepreneurs, and practitioners from across the Mediterranean.
• Shared practical experiences from Euro-Med projects where AI is linked to democracy, social inclusion, climate resilience, and youth participation.

This visibility not only showcased EuroMedAI’s added value, but also enabled us to connect with actors who are seeking structured, long-term collaboration on AI policy and practice in the region.

Contributing to the Policy Workshop on Ethics & Multi-sectoral Partnerships

A key moment of our participation was engaging in the policy workshop “Enabling Ethics in Innovation: Strategies for Multi-sectoral AI Partnerships in the Euro-Med Region”, organised by the Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) on the sidelines of the Forum in Tunis.

The workshop brought together:

• Public sector representatives and policymakers
• Private sector and tech industry actors
• Academia and research institutions
• Civil society organisations and networks

Together, we explored how ethical, inclusive, and innovative AI ecosystems can be built when all these actors collaborate across the full AI lifecycle—from data governance and design to deployment, monitoring, and evaluation.

In this context, EuroMedAI:

• Contributed to discussions on AI governance frameworks that are grounded in human rights, transparency, accountability, and regional solidarity.
• Shared insights on how to bridge policy, practice, and grassroots initiatives, drawing on experiences from the Euro-Med region.
• Helped identify practical mechanisms for multi-actor cooperation, such as shared guidelines, joint pilot projects, regional learning networks, and youth-driven initiatives.

The workshop confirmed a strong demand for spaces where technical, policy and social perspectives on AI can meet—a role that EuroMedAI is uniquely positioned to play.

Towards a Future Cooperation Framework for AI Governance in the Mediterranean

One of EuroMedAI’s priorities at FMIA 2025 was to contribute to the design of a future cooperation framework on AI governance for the Mediterranean launched by Anna Lindh Foundation.

During discussions and bilateral exchanges, we worked on:

• Mapping existing initiatives and gaps in AI governance across the region.
• Exploring how Mediterranean stakeholders can align around shared principles—such as fairness, transparency, human oversight, and respect for fundamental rights.
• Identifying entry points for coordinated action, including national AI strategies, regional processes, and city- or sector-level initiatives (e.g. health, climate, education).

Our objective is to help shape a pragmatic, step-by-step framework that can:

• Connect policymakers, regulators, and civil society actors working on AI;
• Support mutual learning around new regulations and standards;
• Encourage Mediterranean-driven approaches rather than importing models that do not fully reflect our region’s realities.

EuroMedAI will continue to build on the relationships and ideas emerging from FMIA 2025 to co-develop this cooperation frame with interested partners.

A Stronger Euro-Med AI Community

FMIA 2025 confirmed that the Mediterranean has both the talent and the political will to develop its own vision of AI—one that is rooted in inclusion, rights, and shared prosperity.

For EuroMedAI, participating in the Forum in Tunis was:

• A chance to present our network and expertise to a wide audience of regional and international stakeholders;
• An opportunity to contribute to strategic conversations on AI governance and ethics at a critical moment for global and regional regulation;
• A springboard for new collaborations and concrete initiatives that will continue well beyond November 2025.

We thank Anna Lindh Foundation and Tunisia for hosting us!

We leave Tunis with new partnerships, clearer priorities, and a renewed commitment: to help build a Mediterranean AI ecosystem that is ethical, inclusive, and truly co-created by the people and communities it is meant to serve.

Stay connected with EuroMedAI for updates on our upcoming workshops and initiatives. Join our network to be part of the conversation.