Foreign ministers from five southern European nations and the five North African members of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) decided Friday to relaunch cooperation after a 10-year suspension.
The decision came after ministers met in Lisbon, at the initiative of Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama, to look at ways of reviving their cooperative forum, notably in the economic sphere.
Foreign ministers from France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain joined their counterparts from Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia in agreeing to relaunch the "5 + 5" forum.
Gama said the meeting's biggest achievement had been simply that it took place. "We have been able to make a decision to continue this dialogue in an informal way," he added. "It is not about creating an institutional organization nor of imposing it on other existing bodies, such as the Barcelona forum."
The Euro-Mediterranean forum, set up in Barcelona in 1995, is made up of the 15 EU nations and 12 Mediterranean countries.
On the key issue of immigration, Gama said: "There are 10 million North Africans in Europe. We have to establish a very frank dialogue so that they are treated in a more just and equitable manner."
Morocco's Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa welcomed the frank atmosphere in which the talks took place. Speaking of the North African countries' priorities, he said: "We are swimming in problems, bilateral as well as regional."
He particularly welcomed Gama's thinking on immigration, as "very, very interesting and full of new initiatives, in a much more humanitarian framework." Immigrants should not be treated as a temporary convenience but should enjoy the same rights as other citizens, he added.
The ministers have agreed to meet every year, alternating the venue between European and African countries. Thus a North African country will host the next such gathering in 2002 and France will host the 2003 meeting.
In the interim, the North African countries will host a series of six meetings to discuss issues considered most important, such as investment, trade and the issues raised by globalization.
Originally launched in 1991, dialogue in the "5 + 5" forum quickly stalled because of political difficulties, notably the UN sanctions imposed against Libya, which were lifted in 1999. — (AFP, Lisbon)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
