11 February 2026, Rome – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean – Centre for Global Studies (PAM-CGS) and the NATO Defense College Foundation (NDCF) will organize the high-level workshop “REGIONS AT THE CENTRE – Cooperative Security: Cooperation versus Fragmentation”.
The workshop brings together more than 50 distinguished participants, coming from Europe, Africa, Asia and the United States, among them senior decision-makers, international experts and practitioners, as well as representatives of the diplomatic community, for a forward-looking and policy-oriented exchange on the revitalization of regional partnerships and the advancement of cooperative security.
The international geopolitical and security environment is undergoing a rapid transformation, characterized by competition and the progressive erosion of trust in traditional alliances and the multilateral system of governance. Today’s fragmentation is further exacerbated by deep economic and societal dislocations, significantly constraining the capacity of individual actors to ensure stability on their own.
Within this evolving landscape, the Euro-Mediterranean and the Gulf regions have emerged as pivotal theatres. No longer separable security domains, these areas now form an interconnected security complex in which localized instability generates immediate and far-reaching spillovers, directly affecting the broader Euro-Atlantic area.
The discussion will be structured around two key thematic areas:
Panel I – Rebuilding Political Space: Partnerships Beyond Fragmentation, examining realistic pathways on how regional partnerships can be redesigned to restore mutual trust and enhance the role of parliamentary diplomacy in reducing misperceptions.
Panel II – Cooperative Security in Practice: Preventing Escalation, Establishing Collective Frameworks, addressing practical areas for cooperation, from maritime security to critical infrastructure protection, and discussing how to build confidence measures that can withstand climate stress and technological disruption. //