The closing conference of the Med-Mem project to preserve the audiovisual memory of Mediterranean countries, of which the EBU is an associate partner, has taken place in Fez and Rabat, Morocco.

Med-Mem is funded by the EU under the Euromed Heritage programme, and has collected from the 14 member broadcasters around 4,000 audiovisual copyright-free elements for use on websites.

Its mission is to reconstruct the Mediterranean memory through material held in television archives, and make it freely available on the Med-Mem website, where all the material has been indexed in English, French and Arabic, and organized into 50 thematic sheets edited by the University of Aix-Marseille.

The results will be online from the end of January and subsequently presented in Marseille as part of initiatives linked to the city’s European Capital of Culture status.

Announcing the launch of the www.medmem.eu website, in the Rabat National Library (pictured above), Faïçal Rachid Laraïchi, the Director General of Moroccan EBU Member SNRT, said Med-Mem represented "a symbolic bridge for Euro-Mediterranean dialogue".

Mr Laraïchi, who was recently elected to the EBU Executive Board, said the project would enable young people on both sides of the Mediterranean, who are at ease with the internet and social media, to learn about their history and culture.

Med-Mem is led by the French National Audiovisual Institute (INA) and COPEAM, in partnership with the EBU and the following EBU Members: EPTV (Algeria); HRT (Croatia); CyBC (Cypriot public television); ERTU (Egypt); ERT (Greece); IBA (Israeli public television); RAI (Italy); JRTV (Jordan); LJBC (Libya); SNRT and SOREAD 2M (Morocco).

Other contributors are: Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Egypt); CMCA (Centre Méditerranéen de la Communication Audiovisuelle) ; PBC (Palestine Broadcasting Corporation); MMSH (Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’homme); Uninettuno (Università Telematica Internazionale - Italy), and the Virtual Library of Palestine (a UNESCO Mission); TV3 (Catalonian TV), Astram (Arts, Sciences et Techniques / Recherche Audiovisuelle et Multimédia - Aix Marseille University).