Brussels, 31/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The EU has officially appointed the official representing the European Commission in Egypt as the accredited ambassador to the Arab League. This decision, which was announced on Tuesday 30 January on the sidelines of the debate on EU-Arab world relations in the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, puts relations between the EU and the pan-Arab organisation on an official footing, although the League has, for a number of years, had an accredited ambassador to the European institutions. The current Ambassador, Abdelouaheb Derbal, has welcomed this development, which was helped by the visit, just over a week ago, to Brussels of Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, who met many of those in charge of European external policy. He hopes that practical cooperation between the two organisations, particularly in the sharing of experience, training programmes and the cultural area, will be progressively built up.
One of the first projects, currently being developed, will be announced very shortly: the resumption of Euronews broadcasts in Arabic. Another will be aid for the training of staff for monitoring the electoral process, similar to the EU project with the African Union. (fb)