Economic group of Mediterranean forum meets in Portugal

The economic group of the Mediterranean forum met in Lisbon on Friday to ponder on association agreements for the creation of a free-trade zone between the European Union and southern Mediterranean countries.

Participants from Algeria, Egypt, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and Portugal looked into means of promoting partnership in investments, and stressed the need to involve the private sector, public administrations, and Euro-Mediterranean networks.

The meeting was held at the initiative of Portugal which proposed last week during the Euro-Mediterranean encounter, convened in Valencia (Spain), to host a meeting on economic and investment issues in the first half of 2000 when Portugal takes over the EU rotating chairmanship.

According to Theresa Moura, an official at the Portuguese Foreign Ministry, participants exchanged viewpoints on means to develop and improve relations between countries of the European Union and those bordering the Mediterranean.