For the second time this month, President Mubarak repeated his call to developed countries to deal with the repercussions of the world economic crisis vis-à-vis developing countries. Doaa El-Bey reports During his two-day visit to Italy and France, President Hosni Mubarak reiterated the importance of dealing with the impact of the world economic crisis in order to decrease the gap between north and south. In Paris, he and French President Nicolas Sarkozy discussed ways to relaunch the Union for the Mediterranean, Middle East peace talks, the situation in Lebanon and Sudan, the role of the Non- Aligned Movement (NAM), the situation in Iraq, and Iran's nuclear programme, in addition to bilateral issues. Earlier Mubarak met French Prime Minster François Fillon. No statements were issued after the two meetings. On Monday, Mubarak delivered a speech to the Economic and Financial Forum for the Mediterranean in Milan, Italy, in which he warned the developed states that their policies of trying to overcome the world financial crisis could increase the suffering of the developing countries, thus increasing the gap between the rich and poor. Earlier this month he repeated the same concerns about the impact of the economic crisis on developing countries. During the G8 meeting held earlier this month in L'Aquila, Italy, Mubarak addressed leaders from Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US, urging them to freeze repayments due on loans to African states to help poor countries through the present economic crisis. The Milan forum focussed on issues linked to the present world economic situation and its repercussions on the Mediterranean region. It gave priority to energy, boosting small and medium sized projects and improving the infrastructure of southern Mediterranean states. Mubarak called for boosting cooperation among Mediterranean states "because they possess all the resources for success". He said in his Milan address that southern Mediterranean states possess energy resources and trained cheap workers while the northern Mediterranean has capital and technology. Together, he said, they have a large market, however, the main challenge facing the union was to find the needed finances to carry out the projects suggested by the member states. The money should be made available for the public and private sectors of the southern states. In addition, measures should be taken to safeguard such projects from the financial crisis. Another challenge, Mubarak said, was the repercussions of the situation in the Middle East on cooperation among Mediterranean states, expressing his belief that the establishment of a Palestinian state would open a new page in the history of the region. The Union for the Mediterranean was launched in July last year in Paris. It brings EU members together along with states from North Africa, a few Arab countries and Israel in an attempt to boost cooperation in the northern and southern Mediterranean region. The presidency of the union, held in rotation every two years, includes a representative from the north and one from the south. The first two years are headed by Sarkozy and Mubarak. The union's main objectives are to fight pollution in the Mediterranean region, increase solar energy, build highways on land and across the sea between member states and cooperate in higher education and research. Such ambitious objectives were partially slowed down by the high rate of unemployment and rising immigration from southern to northern states. The union's activities were also impeded by Israel's siege on Gaza late last year. In Milan, the Palestinian issue topped the list of priorities. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi repeated his call for the establishment of a Marshal project to boost the Palestinian economy. He added that the establishment of a Palestinian state is supposed to allow the Palestinians to escape from their current state of poverty. Berlusconi also met Mubarak on the sidelines of the forum to discuss ways of reviving the Palestine-Israeli peace process on the basis of international legitimacy and signed accords. They also discussed the situation in Iraq after the withdrawal of US forces, ongoing negotiations to form a new Lebanese government, Sudan and Somalia. The repercussion of the world economic crisis on poorer countries was given priority in the G8 and NAM meetings and on Mubarak's visits to France and Italy. But talking about the issue will only partially solve it.
