During the 5 + 5 Dialogue summit on the Western Mediterranean in Malta, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, called on Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia to strengthen their cooperation, stressing the “clear cost of the absence of North Africa”.
“It is high-time to try to find and open new avenues of cooperation across the Southern shore of the Mediterranean, in particular in North Africa, as a win-win exercise, starting with practical matters”, she argued in a speech, taking the example of the creation of the European Union.
“Cooperation on practical matters can also be the starting point for a closer cooperation on more delicate issues, starting with regional security”, Ms Mogherini added.
The High Representative stressed that the EU could and would support a potential process such as this.
To convince her partners, Ms Mogherini recalled that there is a high cost associated with “high tariffs”, there is a cost in having insufficient connections between their countries and "not to mention the very low level of trade and economic exchanges” across the Southern part of the region. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)