The Arab Spring and its implications for the future cooperation of the 5+5 Dialogue process for the Western Mediterranean, the regional crises and regional integration, will be discussed in Rome, on Monday 20 February 2012, on the occasion of the 9th Meeting of the 5+5 Dialogue Foreign Ministers, hosted by the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Giulio Terzi.
PAM has been invited to participate in its capacity as the only Mediterranean regional forum for parliamentary diplomacy entrusted with the Parliamentary dimension of the 5+5 Dialogue. PAM will be represented by its Vice President, Sen. Francesco Amoruso (Italy) and Secretary General, Amb. Sergio Piazzi.
“PAM’s participation at the 5+5 meeting is another occasion to underline the importance of the complementarity of the regional organizations and will serve to strengthen synergies between the actions of the governments and the legislative role of National Parliaments on strategic issues of common interest’, Sen. Amoruso said prior to the meeting in Rome.
The 5+5 Dialogue is a framework that brings together the ten western Mediterranean countries from the southern and northern shores, namely the five Arab Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Mauritania), Spain, France, Italy, Malta and Portugal.
At the 8th Meeting held in Tunisia in April 2010, discussions revolved around three main themes, namely the consolidation and extension of the 5+5 Dialogue framework, emigration and the situation in the Middle East.
“PAM is also particularly committed to the wider cooperation between the institutional, public and private stakeholders in the processes for economic and financial development, and will this year promote a number of initiatives in favour of employment and job creation, through its Panel on External Trade and Investments in the Mediterranean”, Amb. Piazzi said.
The Parliamentary dimension of the 5+5 Meeting will be one of the main topics within the Mediterranean Forum (FOROMED) Meeting, which will be held in the afternoon. FOROMED is a platform of dialogue and cooperation founded in 1994 by 11 Mediterranean countries. (Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, France, Spain, Italy, Malta, Egypt, Portugal, Greece and Tunisia). Other topics on the agenda will include migration, economy and culture, as well as, decentralized cooperation and security.