Brussels, February 10, 2012 (MAP)
Brussels, February 10, 2012 (MAP)
Europe and its southern partners have a unique opportunity to enable the Union for the Mediterranean (UFM) to play a role of a catalyst to support the process of reconstruction and change in the region, Youssef Amrani, Minister delegate to the Foreign Minister said on Friday in Brussels.
Speaking as guest of honor before the Union’s high-ranking officials convened in Brussels, Amrani underlined that changes in the region showed the pressing need for including new priorities and projects in relations between the EU and its neighboring countries, mainly southern ones.
“Priorities set at the 2008 Paris Summit will continue to be valid and pertinent. They comprise sectors vital to the development of the Mediterranean countries’ growth as water, energy, transportation, and Small and Medium Enterprises,” he said.
The Minister delegate hailed the labeling by the UFM’s officials of the trans-Maghreb motorway project.
Political development should go hand in hand with economic development, he went on, adding that democracy and participation in political life cannot be possible without the promotion of the citizen’s socio-economic situation and vice versa.
“I think that we should work with least developed regions on fighting poverty and creating employment especially for young people,” he noted.
He also stressed the necessity to devise programs related to South-South cooperation and regional integration.
