Brussels, 17/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 13 January, Touhami Abdouli, Tunisian Foreign Secretary who also has responsibility for European Affairs, visited the Committee of the Regions (CoR), where he met Luc Van Den Brande (EPP, Belgium), who chairs the CoR commission on citizenship, governance, institutional and external affairs (CIVEX) and is also the vice-president of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM)
They discussed recent developments in Tunisia on regionalising Tunisia's administrative bodies and prospects for new partnerships between European and Tunisian local and regional authorities. The meeting also provided the opportunity to discuss a number of points which will be on the agenda of the forthcoming ARLEM plenary session, in Bari (Italy) on 30 January. Several reports focusing on the Mediterranean region are due to be adopted, including on the relationship between desertification and climate change, renewable energy in the Mediterranean, the preservation and enhancement of cultural heritage, and the role of small and medium-sized enterprises. (MD/transl.rt)