Egypt opposes canceling Mediterranean Forum

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa sent today messages to his counterparts in the Mediterranean Basin Forum, in which he confirmed the importance of continuing this assembly and its development and said his country is not convinced by calls for canceling this assemblage.

Moussa said in his messages that these calls are null and void, and that they are calls to move backward, not forward. These messages expressed resentment toward a suggestion made by some countries during the fifth session of the forum in Palma de Mallorca last month that called for cancellation of this forum or even merging it with the Mediterranean-Europe assemblage for cooperation.

The Mediterranean basin forum was established to fulfill Egyptian President Mubarak's call made before European parliament at the end of 1991. The inaugural meeting was held in July 1994 in Alexandria.

The forum comprises 11 countries: Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Greece and Egypt.