Brussels, 22/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - In an effort to diversify its energy supply sources, the EU places a lot of importance on North Africa and the Middle East in its external energy policy. Addressing the external energy forum on 20-21 November in Brussels, Benita Ferrero-Waldner underlined the EU's goal to intensify its energy cooperation with Algeria through a bilateral agreement that the Commissioner for external relations wants to rapidly conclude. The increase in Algerian gas exports to the Community market is an important goal in this agreement. The issue was raised in discussions with the Algerian authorities during a visit last May to Algiers made by the Director General of Relex, Eneko Landaburu. Currently, 10% of gas consumed in the EU comes from Algeria. According to Ms Ferrero-Waldner, the EU is also planning to strengthen its relations with other North African exporting countries like Egypt, the sixth biggest export of LNG towards the Community market, and Libya, an important producer of gas and oil which, at the moment, is not linked to the EU due to the lack of an association agreement. In connection with relations with Cairo, the Commission is seeking to propose an action plan soon, as part of European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which will serve as a “robust” road map for the harmonisation of the Egyptian energy market with the Community acquis in the energy domain. The Commission is not leaving out Syria from the Middle Eastern equation, which has emerged as a centre of gas activity in the Mashrek due to recent discoveries of natural gas, and a transit potential for supplying gas from Iraq, Egypt and other Gulf countries. Finally, as well as the action plans in the ENP framework that incorporate Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan, the EU, according to Ms Ferrero-Waldner, is working for the “progressive integration” of the Maghreb's electricity markets (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) and the gas markets of the Mashrek (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Palestine and Israel) to the European energy market. In the long term, the EU is also aiming to create a Euro-Mediterranean Energy Common House. (eh)