EU adopts first action plans of neighbourhood policy with 4 Arab states

The European Commission approved this Thursday the first action plans that will make concrete for seven countries, including Morocco, the European Union's offer under the European Neighbourhood policy (ENP).

The six other countries are Moldova, Ukraine, Tunisia, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

These first plans are the product of negotiations with each country, and in each case the plan is specifically designed to reflect the specific interests of the country concerned. The Action Plans will help strengthen democracy, good governance, the rule of law and human rights as well as helping with economic modernisation. The concrete benefits they contain, include the chance to participate in some EU programmes and a stake in Single Market.

In addition, the EU is offering more targeted help to tackle cross border issues, such as migration and trafficking, as well as improved interconnections and physical links with the EU in areas like energy and transport.

"My aim is to create a ring of friends around the borders of our enlarged EU" said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy. "We have worked with our neighbours to devise tailor-made plans that meet the needs and reflect the requests of each partner. Our offer - greater co-operation, more financial assistance, and a chance to benefit from a closer relationship with Europe, - will bring real benefits to both sides in a range of fields from Education to the Environment, and from Transport to the fight against Terrorism."

The Action Plans reflect the EU's determination not to allow new dividing lines to grow up around the enlarged Union, but rather to export the stability and prosperity that the EU enjoys. The Plans will offer assistance in bringing legislation or regulations in line with the EU to increase access to the EU internal market, offer participation in a number of EU programmes including education, research, environment and audio-visual, step up co-operation on border management, migration, trafficking in human beings, organised crime, money laundering and financial and economic crimes, improve links with the EU in the fields of energy, transport, and information technology, and increase dialogue and co-operation on counter-terrorism, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as efforts to resolve regional conflict.

For each country, the Action Plan is an agenda for work with the EU over the next 3-5 years. The plans do not replace, but build on the existing Association or Co-operation Agreement with each partner.

They make it possible to define more clearly priorities, and to link financial assistance more closely to the achievement of mutually agreed goals. The "tailor-made" principle means that each partner will choose how far it wants to deepen its political and economic ties with the EU. The further a partner is ready to go in taking practical steps to implement common values, the further the EU will be ready to go in strengthening links.

The Action Plans now pass to the Council for endorsement, and to the relevant Association or Co-operation Council for approval. (MAP)SH

BMENA, G8 seek new partnership

Rabat, Dec. 09 (MAP)- Over 20 countries of the broader Middle East and North Africa region, and the group of the most industrialized countries known as G8 are to meet December 11-12 in the Moroccan capital to lay bases for a fresh partnership part of the 1st meeting of the "Forum for the Future."

The first ever held Forum, co-chaired by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Mohamed Benaissa, will be the cornerstone of "a Partnership for Progress and a Common Future" between courtries of the region and G8 (United States, France, UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia).

Regional organizations, the Arab League, the Maghreb Arab Union (UMA), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the European Commission and Union, will also attend the inaugural meeting of the "Forum for the Future" that is held following a series of meetings organized from March to June 2004.

The two day-encounter will bring together top officials on Friday before a meeting of Foreign and Finance Ministers on Saturday. The event will examine proposals and initiatives "prepared by countries of the region."

Countries taking part in this event will exchange views on means to support are countries commitment for pursuing ongoing reforms in conformity with the Declaration of the Arab summit held in Tunis, said the Moroccan Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Ministry.

This new framework of dialogue is part of programs and initiatives aimed at achieving development in the region, notably the Barcelona process, added the same source.

"Morocco will defend in the Forum its conviction that political development is a process that can only boosted by the nations concerned," said a high official in the Foreign department.

Several financial institutions will take part in the Forum, including the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the African Development Bank (ADB).

According to the Moroccan ambassador to UAE, Aziz El Houssein, the Forum also aims at tackling challenges of poverty and unemployment, and examining the Arab-Israeli conflict in order to reach a fair solution to the Palestinian question.