Dublin, 06/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - Thursday's ministerial conference in Dublin reached a decision to locate the Foundation on Dialogue between Cultures and Civilisations, to be known as the Anna Lindh centre, after the late Swedish Foreign Minister.
The proposal to establish the centre in the library in Alexandria was presented jointly by Egypt and Sweden. Cyprus, Malta and Italy also offered to house the foundation, and the Italian government fought for it to the bitter end, reaching a compromise involving it in the centre's management. It is not yet know whether such a compromise has been made possible. However, the draft remains to be finalised and the 10 million EUR, half of which has been offered by the European Commission, to be collected. The remaining 5 million will come from contributions from the Member States of the EU and the ten partners countries, which are called upon to pay a minimum of 100,000 EUR each. Egypt has proposed almost 200,000 EUR, half of which "in kind" (rent, staff made available etc).
The 35 Foreign Ministers and members of the European troika (Cowen, Solana and Patten) also reaffirmed the need to breathe new life into the EuroMed process, interest in which was re-confirmed by all countries present. Mr Cowen also reiterated Europe's determination to support the "road map" to reach a solution on the Middle East. Mr Patten pointed out the European Commission's intended direction in its aid to countries of the region, making it conditional upon democratic progress and good governance, which the EU hopes also to encourage as part of its draft global plans for the Arab and Middle Eastern region. It also underlined the importance of the "South-South" integration process in the Mediterranean, as illustrated by the Agadir agreement.