NATO member-countries and south mediterranean countries meet in Spain

Morocco is taking part this Thursday and Friday in a conference on the future of the NATO Mediterranean initiative opened by Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar and NATO's secretary general, Javier Solana.

Morocco is represented by its ambassador to Brussels to the conference held to mark the 50th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to examine a study on the "future of NATO's dialogue with Mediterranean countries." It will contribute to giving a new impetus to dialogue between the allied countries and Mediterranean countries in the perspective of the allied summit slated for next April in Washington, according to sources at the European commission. Its second target is to stress NATO's concern that security in Europe is tightly linked to security and stability in the Mediterranean.

In 1994, the allied countries decided during a summit to start a policy of dialogue with Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Israel and later on, Jordan joined the process.

The three-day conference, held behind closed doors, will center on "visions of security in the dialogue countries," "multilateral fora for Mediterranean dialogue: NATO, European Union, Union of Western Europe, Organization for security and Cooperation in Europe" and "perspectives of the future of NATO's Mediterranean dialogue."

According to Spanish secretary for external policy, Ramon Miguel, "the Mediterranean sea should not be a sea that separates but that unites with a view to creating a space of active security to promote a climate of friendship and trust."