CAIRO, Oct 7, 2018 - In reassertion of its policy of promoting co-operation for peace and development at both regional and international levels, Egypt is taking part in an important platform for the furtherance of dialogue and co-operation in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The platform is the Union for the Mediterranean Forum which kicks off at the level of foreign ministers in Barcelona today. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri will represent Egypt in the work of the forum. He flew in to Barcelona from Tokyo where he took part in the International Conference on Development in Africa which wound up its work on Saturday, according to a Foreign Ministry statement on Sunday. The forum will be co-chaired by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ayman Safadi. The Union for the Mediterranean is an intergovernmental organisation of 43 member-states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 28 EU member-states and 15 Mediterranean partner countries from North Africa, Western Asia and Southern Europe. Egypt and 8 other Arab countries are taking part in the UfM event in Barcelona. These are Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia. On the sidelines of the forum, Minister Shoukri will hold a series of bilateral talks with counterparts from the UfM member-states, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Hafez said in a statement on Sunday, making special reference in this connection to a planned meeting for Minister Shoukri with his Spanish counterpart Josep Borrell whose country is hosting the forum. The Shoukri-Borrell talks are expected to feature a consideration of ways of advancing relations between Egypt and Spain in all fields and a review of the developments of regional and international issues of mutual concern, Spokesman Hafez said in the statement. Engagement of the private sector in the human development efforts and the social impact of this sector on the Euro-Mediterranean region would be considered during this year's dialogue. Special reference is expected to be made to the UfM Med4jobs initiative which represents an integrated approach that tackles both the supply and demand sides of the labour market by targeting three core issues, namely employability, job intermediation and business-enabling infrastructure, according to the institution's General-Secretariat. The UfM Secretary-General is Ambassador Nasser Kamel. This year's focus complements the work of the previous round of the forum, held in January last year, which gave a strong political commitment to strengthen regional co-operation in the Mediterranean by endorsing a roadmap for action under the theme of Mediterranean in Action: Youth for Stability and Development. Inspired by shared political will to revitalise efforts to transform the Mediterranean into an area of peace, democracy, co-operation and prosperity, the heads of state and government of the Euro-Mediterranean countries launched the UfM when they met in a summit conference in Paris on 13 July 2008.
