The members of the EU Political and Security Committee and representatives of the Arab League stressed their commitment to strengthening cooperation between the Union and the Arab League at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday 23 January.
“Conscious of the opportunities and the challenges facing Euro-Arab relations”, they expressed “their determination to keep strengthening their cooperation and coordination, and to work together for a safer and better future for all”, the EU Council said in a statement issued at the end of the meeting.
The representatives also reaffirmed the strengthening of the Euro-Arab partnership “as an appropriate regional response and their commitment to effective multilateralism and to an international system based on respect for international law”.
At the meeting, European and Arab representatives discussed, among other things, the question of Palestine and the construction of a “just and comprehensive peace” in the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon and Iran. The fight against terrorism and its financing, and the issues of migration, refugees and displaced persons were also addressed. The representatives acknowledged “the importance of joining efforts to address common and current political, economic, social, and security challenges which threaten the stability, prosperity and well-being of their common region and the world at large”, according to the EU Council.
From a more institutional point of view, the representatives confirmed the continued strengthening of cooperation in the framework of the strategic dialogue between the Secretariat-General of the League of Arab States and the European External Action Service, launched in November 2015, particularly in the fields of conflict prevention, crisis management, migration, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and arms control. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)