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VALLETTA, Oct 04, 2012 (AFP) – Malta will this week host an unprecedented summit of Maghreb and European countries aimed at strengthening cross-Mediterranean ties in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings that have toppled several leaders.
“Malta is proud to host the first ‘Five-Plus-Five’ summit since the birth of democracy in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya,” Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said Monday as he unveiled the gathering for Friday and Saturday.
“It’s a historic meeting in itself, a showcase for intercultural dialogue.”
The Five-Plus-Five forum, which brings together leaders from France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain along with those from Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, was launched in Rome in 1990.
But the Malta meeting will be only the second summit, following one in Tunis in 2003.
And it will be the first since Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown in a popular revolt in January last year and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi was toppled by rebels in August last year, then captured and killed two months later.
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh have also been ousted by Arab Spring uprisings, but their countries lie outside the Maghreb.
The forum has a “particular political significance” because “it is the only regional grouping which unites the members of the Arab Maghreb Union with their neighbours on the northern shore of the Mediterranean,” a Maltese official told AFP.
It is also unusual because “its informal nature permits a more frank discussion” of themes which are likely to range from questions of security to new areas of cooperation like education, environment and energy, the official said.
In a sign of the importance they are according the summit, French President Francois Hollande, Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti, Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Portugal’s Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho will all be flying into Malta.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will also be at the summit along with the commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule.
The secretary-general of the Arab Maghreb Union, Habib Ben Yahia, and the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Fathallah Sijilmassi, will be taking part as observers, the Maltese authorities said.
The summit will allow the West to show its determination “to maintain an ambitious Mediterranean cooperation in spite of economic difficulties and the eurozone crisis,” a spokesman from the French president’s office said.
Paris also wants to declare “its renewed confidence in the political process on the south bank of the Mediterranean and Maghreb in particular following the Arab Spring”, and “create productive, confident and varied ties” in the region.
Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz have said they will attend. So too will Morocco’s Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, Algeria’s new Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and new Libyan President Mohamed al-Megaryef.
Defence and security issues will be on the table, and illegal immigration from the Maghreb to Europe also likely to be a priority.
The countries are also likely to explore deals on renewable energy and will address political tensions surrounding the Trans-Maghreb Motorway project, which aims to strengthen relations and enhance regional trade.
In addition to the summit, Paris said it hoped the Five-Plus-Five countries could “strengthen cooperation between finance and economy ministers, facilitate movement for businessmen and reinforce legal security for companies.”
