Brussels, 17/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - At the end of September, Jordan will formally take over the co-presidency of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). Sources in Amman have indicated that the current Secretary General, Fathallah Sijilmassi, had a meeting at the end of last week with the minister for foreign affairs, Nasser Judeh.
The future co-president and secretary-general discussed the UfM's work programme and priority areas for action. These perspectives are expected to enable him to play “a vital role in supporting the development process in countries south of the Mediterranean”. The action envisaged should also help to address the “structural imbalances between the countries on the two opposite shores of the Mediterranean, through the implementation of regional and sub-regional projects”. The planned projects aim at “increasing investments in sectors that generate new jobs” and “alleviating unemployment”, explained Mr Sijilmassi in an interview published in the local press.
He also indicated that the meeting inaugurating the two-year mandate of the Jordanian co-presidency would take place in Brussels on 27 September.
The secretary general took part in a meeting with ministers for the economy and finance in Cyprus on Friday 14 September (see other article), and also spent a few days in Greece and Tunisia to inform these countries about the importance of priority projects in the energy (particularly solar energy), transport, maritime transport and water sectors. The Secretary-General intends to seize the political opportunity created by the support that the French president, François Hollande and the head of the Italian government, Mario Monti, have publicly offered in an effort to relaunch this area of cooperation. (FB/trans/fl)