The first face-to-face meeting of the Group of Senior Officials (GSO) of the 5+5 Dialogue Research, Innovation and Higher Education, under the presidency of Portugal and vice-presidency of Mauritania, took place in Lisbon, at the FCT headquarters, on 25 and 26 May 2023.

This meeting made a very positive contribution to the implementation of the set of seven actions of the 2023-2024 work plan, as attested by the delegates of the member countries - Algeria, France, Libya, Italy, Mauritania, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia and Spain.

The commitments were made by all countries, in an environment of close cooperation and collaboration, and future meetings, workshops and seminars were planned, with the aim of creating networks between research, innovation and higher education institutions and all the actors in the respective national systems.

The meeting also counted with the active participation of the European Commission and the Union for the Mediterranean, in the political support to this Dialogue and implementation of the actions.

During Portugal's presidency, which will last until the fall of 2024, the GSO has already met virtually on 26 and 27January,and informally on 28 April, with the aim of making progress on the implementation of the Nouakhott Declaration, issued by the 5th Ministerial Conference in October 2022 in Mauritania.

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