Euro Mediterranean conference enhances cooperation

Overshadowed by the Israeli brutal invasion of the Palestinian territories, the Euro-Mediterranean conference for the Barcelona process, at the level of foreign ministers, April 22-23, in Valencia, Spain, culminated in endorsing a plan of action.

It mainly focused on cooperation between the EU and the Mediterranean basin countries in the political, economic, financial, social, cultural and security fields.

The Valencia plan set the year 2010 as a deadline for establishing a free trade area in the Mediterranean basin countries, urging for more positive steps to liberate trade in the agricultural domain.

The plan also stressed the importance of encouraging the private sector in the Mediterranean basin countries to play a greater role in trade and investment activities.

The conference acknowledged that dialogue among cultures, civilizations and religions throughout the Mediterranean region is more important than ever before, in order to enhance understanding and rapprochement.

This will consequently lead to generating new momentum in the Euro-Mediterranean relations in the future; however, the Barcelona process cannot ignore the terrorism phenomenon that requires confrontation.

Furthermore, the conference probed introducing a Euro-Mediterranean funding mechanism within the framework of the European investment bank to offer soft loans to the private sector in the southern Mediterranean countries.

The conference welcomed the creation of the union of the Mediterranean confederations of enterprises to strengthen the dialogue with the private sector, including boosting the Euro Mediterranean free trade area.

Other fields of cooperation probed in the conference include justice, combating drugs as well as treatment of issues relating to the social integration of migrants, migration and movements of people.

Concluding, the EU urged the Israeli authorities to halt all its military operations and withdraw from all the Palestinian occupied territories.