Brussels is, 29/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - It is expected that a Euro-Mediterranean meeting on the digital economy, organised for 30 September in Brussels, will only bring together a small number of ministers from the countries in the region. This is because of the conflict between Israel and armed Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip. Last week in Cairo, where the Arab league is based, Arab countries decided to express their disapproval by postponing a number of meetings, such as this ministerial meeting on trade, which was due to take place in Brussels on 30 September and scale down their participation in the session on the “digital economy” to a purely technical level.
The only participation from the Arab countries will be from the co-president of the UfM (Union for the Mediterranean), Dr Azzam Sleit, Jordanian Minister for Information and Technological Communication. He will be joined by Commissioner Neelie Kroes, Commission Vice-President in charge of this dossier. European ministers, however, are expected to attend.
The most recent ministerial meeting on this theme was held in Cairo in 2008. It confirmed full joint commitment to promoting the information society throughout the Euro-Mediterranean area and encouraged setting up a “Euromed Regulator Group” (EMERG). Progress in technological communications in the region was highlighted and, in 2014, it hopes that more than 1 billion people will have internet connections and 2.3 billion will have mobile communications devices. (FB)