Brussels 27/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Arab group at the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) would like a 12-month extension in the mandate of the three deputy secretaries currently working in their posts in Barcelona. The Jordanian Ambassador, Montassar Oklah Alzoubi, whose country is currently responsible for the co-presidency of the organisation, informed EUROPE of the Arab group's wishes. One of these three members is from an Arab country, which in this case, is Palestine. The other two come from Turkey and Israel.
The Jordanian Ambassador confirmed that the on-going discussions at senior UfM official level will help to focus on the way in which the Anna Lindh Foundation budget works and how it is executed, as well as on-going projects whose funding still remains a problem. He does hope, however, that on-going talks with the different organisations (EBRD, Arab funds), whose assistance will complement the resources promised by the EU, will help to conclude these dossiers soon. The question of promoting “economic complementarity” on both sides of the Mediterranean will also be raised, as well as the way in which the secretariat general operates and the budget to which few states from the southern Mediterranean are currently contributing. At the end of 2012, Morocco announced that it would pay in €700,000 to the budget of the common structure for 2013. It had already contributed €500,000 to the 2012 budget. Commitments have also been made by a number of other countries. (FB/transl.fl)