Euro-Mediterranean meetings kick start today in Athens
Regional-Egypt, Politics, 5/20/2002

The Euro-Mediterranean meetings, attended by foreign ministers of eleven states, kickstart today under chairmanship of Greece. The meeting will discuss the situation in the Middle East.

En route from Nicosia to Athens to lead Egypt's delegation, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher held talks with his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides on bilateral relations and the Middle East.

They addressed the importance of stability in the Middle East, the promotion of the peace process and the restoration of Palestinian rights.

On the other hand, Maher will deliver on Thursday President Hosni Mubarak's speech to the opening session of the seventh COMESA summit, to be held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Ambassador Sami Abdel-Shaheed, Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs, said that Egypt during the summit would hand over the presidency of the coming COMESA round to Ethiopia.

He added that Maher would head the two Egyptian delegations to the COMESA Ministerial meeting on Wednesday and the African Unity dispute settlement mechanism.

The summit will discuss subjects related to trade, taxes, currency, finance, legal matters, investment systems, development of the private sector, infrastructure, communications networks, and the establishment of a COMESA justice court.

The summit will also study the relationship between COMESA and other organizations.

The Deputy Foreign Minister added that a protocol agreement would be signed on the establishment of a COMESA cooperation, compensation and development fund.

Participating heads of state are also to review reports dealing with freedom of movement, services, labour and residence rights between COMESA countries, Abdel Shaheed said, pointing out to the fact that these agreements were still being studied due to the problems facing their implementation.

The Deputy Minister added that the foreign ministers would discuss during their meetings reports by the peace, security and dispute settlement committees in the COMESA, the most important of which is the Madagascar issue.

COMESA is a group of twenty member countries, with a rotating presidency system.

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