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EURO-MED FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET TO REAFFIRM RELEVANCE OF THE BARCELONA PROCESS IN THE AFTERMATH OF 11TH SEPTEMBER
pr1639
06/11/2001
06/11/2001
| The informal meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the | Euro-Mediterranean partner countries was held in Brussels, currently the capital of the Union’s rotating presidency, on the 5th and 6th November. |
| This meeting aimed to reaffirm the relevance of the | Euro-Mediterranean partnership in the present international context, following the terrorist attacks of the 11th September. |
| Foreign Ministers discussed all three chapters of the | Barcelona Process (political and security; economic and financial; social, cultural and human). Particular focus was put on the social, cultural and human dimension, where Ministers agreed to launch new initiatives on women and training and to take steps towards launching a regional Justice and Home Affairs Programme. |
| Dr Joe Borg supported the initiative of the Belgian | Presidency to launch a programme on the "Role of Women in Economic Development". According to the recommendations adopted during a forum on the same theme held in July, the future regional programme should cover four main areas : women’s access to and participation in the labour market; setting up of businesses by women; financial instruments; education and vocational training. During the discussion, Foreign Minister Joe Borg, referred to the Maltese proposal on "Information/Education Centres for Women in the EuroMed region". |
| Minister Borg also expressed Malta’s support for | the launch of a regional programme on Justice and Home Affairs. He said that, given the current international context, this policy became even more important and necessary, particularly in areas such as legal and illegal immigration, prevention and control of illicit trafficking, fighting of organised crime and judicial co-operation. Minister Borg said that Malta would be ratifying all the United Nations Conventions on terrorism within the next few weeks. |
| Dr. Borg also supported the joint Swedish-Spanish | proposal for an Action Plan on the Dialogue between Cultures and Civilisations included the proposed themes to be adopted, namely youth, education and media. In this regard he mentioned an initiative, which Malta had proposed during the meeting of Foreign Ministers in Stuttgart. This project had proposed the study of the social policies in the different Euro-Mediterranean religious/cultural environments with a view to eventual co-operation on this subject between the partners. |
| During their first working session on Monday, the | Foreign Ministers also discussed the Middle East Peace Process. Both the President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, as well as the Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, were present for the meeting and spoke of the suffering of their respective peoples because of the current situation in the region. |
| The meeting ended in the afternoon with a discussion | on the economic and financial basket of the process. Commissioner Chris Patten spoke about the MEDS II programme and on the benefits derived by the nine Mediterranean partner countries, which had a bilateral agreement with the Union. He also said that much progress had been made towards the conclusion and ratification of the association agreements with the partner countries. |
| Ministers welcomed the meeting held in Agadir between | Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt setting up a free trade area between them. The partners in the process agreed to continue the enhanced economic cooperation and to the holding of ministerial meetings on Trade, Industry and the Environment in the first half of next year. |
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