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Euro-Mediterranean Conference of
Ministers for Foreign Affairs
The most important institution in the Euro-Mediterranean
cooperation process (the "Barcelona process") is the
Conference of Foreign Ministers, which meets at 18-month
intervals. The eighth Euro-Mediterranean Conference of
Foreign Ministers, due to be held in Tampere on 27-28
November, will be the biggest Euro-Med meeting during
Finland's Presidency. The meeting will be attended by EU
Foreign Ministers and their Mediterranean counterparts
(from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco,
Syria, Tunis, Turkey and the Palestinian
Administration), as well as representatives from the EU
institutions and observers. The discussions will address
key issues relating to the Euro-Mediterranean
partnership. The meeting will be chaired by the Finnish
Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja.
At the meeting, the Foreign Ministers will review the
progress made in implementing the five-year work
programme for the Barcelona Process adopted in November
2005, and lay down guidelines for work over the coming
year. At their working dinner, the Ministers will focus
on the situation in the Middle East. The speakers at the
plenary session will tackle issues such as
inter-cultural dialogue, the EU's new neighbourhood
policy and the related financing instrument, funding
issues and working methods relating to the Euro-Med
partnership and the question of how to make the
partnership more transparent. The meeting will also
discuss the outcome of other ministerial meetings that
took place earlier this year. The final choice of topics
for discussion will be determined largely by the
political situation at the time.
One of the joint goals of the Barcelona process is to
increase the involvement of NGOs in Euro-Med
cooperation. The Conference of Foreign Ministers will be
preceded by a "Civil Forum", an NGO meeting that will
serve to inform the Conference of NGOs' views on the
process and on the issues it addresses. The Civil Forum
will be held in Marrakech, Morocco, on 4-7 November
2006. The Conference of Foreign Ministers will also
overlap with the conference of national networks
belonging to the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue
between Cultures, scheduled to take place in Tampere on
25-27 November 2006. |