CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak called for Europe to improve cooperation with the southern Mediterranean states yesterday at the Economic and Financial Forum for the Mediterranean in Milan, Italy. The president opened the forum with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi before a diverse delegation of ministers and industry leaders from nations of the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM). In his speech, the president reminded the European nations of their financial commitments to projects throughout the southern Mediterranean nations and emphasized the importance of cooperation within the region in order to confront the global economic crisis. At the forum, which focused on infrastructure, energy and smaller-sized enterprises, Mubarak advocated for financial and technological cooperation as a main tool to ensure security in the region, and touched on the goal of a Mediterranean free-trade zone. He said that Egypt was holding its commitment to achieve 20 percent renewable energy use. Six Egyptian ministers, including the minister of electricity, of petroleum and of transportation, accompanied the president to Milan. Mubarak arrived in Italy on Sunday as part of a short European tour that includes visits with the Italian prime minister and French President Nicolas Sarkozy with whom he is meeting today. Following up on the theme of the Economic and Financial Forum, Mubarak will push for greater international cooperation in seeking resolution in Palestine as well as in dealing with conflict in Sudan and Somalia, according to the Egyptian foreign ministry. The president will also update the European leaders on last week's Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. And with the UPM approaching its first anniversary, the heads of state - including co-chairmen Mubarak and Sarkozy - will build a framework for its future. The UPM was inaugurated last year as a cooperative organization spearheaded by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to bring together the nations of the Mediterranean. It incorporates 43 nations, including all members of the European Union, and holds summit meetings every two years. Mubarak was named co-chairman of the UPM with Sarkozy at its inception. But enthusiasm for the union has lagged in the face of the conflict in Palestine and concerns of overbearing EU influence. The two-day forum in Italy has been seen as a way to revive the association. Leaders from across the region, including European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, came together for what was publicized as an informal platform for international dialogue. Organizers hope that the event, sponsored by the Milan Chamber of Commerce, the Lombardy region in Italy and the Italian Foreign Ministry, will become a mainstay within the UPM. "As a result of its informal nature and the ample attendance of representatives from economic spheres, wrote the Italian Foreign Ministry in a press release, "the Forum is meant to become a significant annual event within the institutional and political context of the Union for the Mediterranean.
