Barcelona, 12/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - Euro-Mediterranean transport ministers are to meet in Brussels on Thursday 14 November to ensure cooperation is rekindled on the basis of a series of concrete projects, some of which already have funding assured.
During the session, the first since the creation of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in November 2008 but the second since the Barcelona Process was launched in 1995, ministers will take stock of recommendations before the Euro-Mediterranean Transport Forum, created in the wake of the first ministerial meeting in Marrakesh (15 December 2005). The Forum is managed by the European Commission and brings together a broad panel of experts, managing to keep up its activities despite the ups and downs of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. It has ensured there is permanent consultation between operators in the transport sector and between the operators and the public authorities and has thus been able to adopt a Blue Paper setting out prospects on the basis of a Regional Transport Action Plan (RTAP) and 34 recommendations for the period 2007-2013. A high-level conference was held in December 2007 in Lisbon to put the seal of approval on the plan. Consultation is based on European experience gained from the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T). Working groups have been formed to cover every branch of transport (road, maritime, air, infrastructure, etc.)
During their meeting on 14 November, ministers will examine a list of projects that have reached maturity, in which the flagship project of “motorways of the sea” no longer appears, after being presented among the six priority actions assigned to the UfM when the latter was created in 2008. The reason for this is the lack of demand for the project from both operators and states.
A new project replaces the “motorways of the sea”, and, according to Yigit Alpogan, Deputy Secretary General of the UfM responsible for transport, that new project seems to be receiving considerable attention from most Euro-Mediterranean cooperation stakeholders. Known as “Logismed-TA”, the project aims to create a network of logistical platforms in maritime transport. Its estimated cost is €6.6 million, almost half of which will be covered by the European Commission (€3.2 million), which will also finance the first phase of the project (2014-2017) in the form of studies and the setting in place of pilot centres in three countries - Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. A second phase (2017-2020) will follow with an estimated cost of €3.4 million, to be covered by the Deauville Partnership, which was conceived by the G8. The project will be extended to ten countries.
A further project considered as significant will be submitted to ministerial scrutiny. The aim of this project is to propose a trans-Maghreb motorway extending from the Atlantic to the south-Tunisian borders and, at a later date, to Libya, once that country has joined Euro-Mediterranean policy (for now, it has only observer status) and also once the political and security situation has settled down. The project consists of linking the different national sections at the borders (80 km of junction to be built to the Algerian-Tunisian border and 22 km between Algeria and Morocco). A third project will be presented on Thursday. It consists of building a railway line in Jordan linking phosphate production centres to the Gulf of Aqaba and passing through the capital, Amman. The project is aimed at becoming a part of a vast regional network covering Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt. It will cost €2 billion, practically to be covered by Gulf funds. A call for tenders is expected to be launched by the end of the year concerning a first 18-month phase during which the construction of the line is to be launched.
Thursday's meeting is finally expected to look at the major outlines of a new action plan for the period 2014-2020, the details of which are still being discussed. (FB/transl.jl)