Syria is the only Mediterranean partner to have culture a priority in national program
Syria-Regional-European Union, Culture, 12/24/1998

Ann Charlotte Bournoville is the European Commission official in charge of culture, audio visual and information within the framework of the Barcelona process, at the EC Directorate for External Relations-Mediterranean.

When asked to describe the Euro-Mediterranean cultural partnership, Ann Chalotte Bournoville begins by stressing a paradox. She noted "Although the Mediterranean's foremost product over thousands of years has been culture, cultural cooperation at the Euro-Mediterranean level was a ground-breaker for the Barcelona Conference. Therefore, the fact that culture was included among the areas of cooperation is a mini-revolution in itself.

"In practice this means that in 1995, the people were not used to working together at Euro-Mediterranean level and there was little experience at community level in dealing with issues of this nature," she said.

Another side of the paradox is that bilateral cooperation between the Union and each of the 12 Mediterranean partners in the field of culture is still very little developed.

She continued that "In this respect, I would like to focus on the regional dimension of cultural cooperation, as the bilateral dimension is rather small. So far, Syria is the only Mediterranean partner to have made culture a priority in its National indicative program, earmarking two million ECU [the European Union currency] for the purpose. Syria is the exception to the rule, but Morocco is giving the idea some thought."

Previous Stories:
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  Syrian radio program wins UN prize   (12/10/1998)
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