On the occasion of the 28th Bureau Meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, the members unanimously elected Sen. Lhou Lmarbouh of Morocco, as the 8th President of the Assembly. The meeting was hosted by the Italian Senate in Rome on 18 December 2015.
Sen. Lhou Lmarbouh, member of the Parliament of Morocco since 2003, has been on the Moroccan national delegation to PAM since 2008. During this period, he has served as Rapporteur on Energy issues and Resources Management, as well as Vice President of the Assembly, and President of the 2nd Standing Committee on Economic, Social and Environmental Cooperation. In the last biennium, he has covered the function of Co-Chair of the PAM Panel on Trade and Investments in the Mediterranean.
He has represented PAM at various international fora and participated in many high level missions to the Middle East, Moscow and the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. He also represented Morocco at the meetings of the Parliamentary dimension of the 5+5 Western Mediterranean Dialogue, to which PAM provides the required support.
In his PAM capacity, Sen. Lmarbouh has also organised several events in Morocco, including a conference with a visit to the Ouarzazate solar power plant, under the auspices of H.M. King Mohammed VI.
More recently,
the role of Sen. Lmarbouh has been very much appreciated by PAM in clarifying a number of issues with Morocco in relation to the unique role and mandate of the Assembly, as well as its function vis-à-vis the 5+5 parliamentary dialogue. In this context, PAM has welcomed his commitment as shown on the occasion of the recent official meeting with the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Morocco, H.E. Mbarka Bouaida, and PAM Secretary General, Amb. Sergio Piazzi, to strengthen cooperation between Rabat and PAM.
At the same Bureau meeting in Rome, in view of the 10th Plenary Session of PAM in Tirana, on 18-19 February 2016, the delegates also reviewed a number of requests for PAM membership by several European countries and organisations, as well as other regional major issues. Among them the question of the depletion of the coastal aquifer of the Gaza Strip was highlighted, following an urgent report by the United Nations on the issue. The delegates expressed their concern at the news that only five per cent of the fresh water reserve is left for the 1.8 million population of the area, and that it will be depleted by the end of 2016 if no immediate remedial action is undertaken to safeguard the aquifer. The contamination by seawater will eventually be irreversible by 2019, unless a long-term strategy and solution are taken in hand in the coming weeks.
The PAM Vice Presidents from Israel and Palestine committed themselves to assist as required, and the new PAM President and the Secretary General are already coordinating with all key actors to support the implementation and completion of the necessary interventions.