Brussels, 23/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 19 February, Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for transport, received the president of the GTMO 5 + 5 group, Abderrahim Zouari. The GTMO 5 + 5 is composed of members from the western Mediterranean (the 5 Maghreb countries plus Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Malta) and covers the multimodal transport network that these countries placed among their top cooperation priorities during a meeting of their transport ministers in November 2008 in Tunis. Spain, which held the last GTMO 5 + 5 presidency, Italy that will be holding a later presidency, and France, that is the co-president of the Union for the Mediterranean, attended the meeting which, according to a press release, allowed satisfaction to be voiced regarding progress made in the context of the work of the GTMO 5 + 5 and above all the signature during the 4th group conference in March 2007, in Tunis, of a protocol for regional cooperation and the adoption during the 5th conference in November 2008, in Tunis, of a multimodal transport network of the Maghreb countries of the GTMO 5 + 5.
The press release points out the need to transform political will into concrete projects. It was thus agreed that cooperation should be promoted in accord with the GTMO work programme and its priority projects, and with the objectives of the Euro-Mediterranean Transport Forum and also the working group on infrastructure. Italy, moreover, has announced that it plans to convene the sixth conference of the group of western Mediterranean transport ministers on 20 May 2009 in Rome, on the occasion of the next European Day of the Sea. It will take over the GTMO 5 + 5 presidency on that occasion. (F.B./transl.jl)