The city of Marseille and the World Bank organised two seminars focusing on the issue of the city strategy for mayors from the Mediterranean Region.

A first seminar was held on December 7, 8 and 9, 2004 in Marrakech with representatives from Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian cities. The second took place in Damas on January 29, 30 and 31, 2005, in the presence of around 40 representatives from Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, Palestinian and Egyptian cities.

The know-how and experience of the city of Marseilles were capitalised on through presentations by the Marseille Town Planning Agency and the Land Planning workshop (Atelier du Patrimoine). Further to this seminar, several cities, including Sfax, Marrakech, Agadir, Mekhnès, Tripoli, Alep, Damas and Beirut asked for technical assistance from the Europe-MENA urban network in order to draw up and implement their development strategies.