2019 OSCE Mediterranean Conference : Celebrating 25 years of the Mediterranean partnership framework for cooperation
Tirana, 24-25 October 2019. UfM Secretary General Nasser Kamel participated as a special speaker in the opening session of the 2019 OSCE Mediterranean Conference that was held in Tirana, Albania, on the 24 and 25 October, in the presence of chairman of the OSCE Mediterranean Contact Group, Acting Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania Gent Cakaj. The OSCE and its Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia) celebrated this year a 25th anniversary. During the 1994 Summit in Budapest, a new framework for cooperation was created which is known today as the Contact Group with Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation.
On his intervention, the SG recalled that the UfM and OSCE Secretariats signed a Memorandum of Understanding to deepen cooperation between the two institutions and serve as framework of ongoing joint-projects. In this regard, he highlighted the very positive results achieved in the development of common initiatives between the two institutions, that he considered clearly illustrates the pathway that should be followed by international organizations.
He explained how the Union for the Mediterranean and OSCE are currently developing a joint project on “Prevention of climate and environment security threats in the Mediterranean”, a subject of the highest importance that is gaining an increased visibility and a central place in the international agenda.
This relevance was also reaffirmed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, that highlighted in her intervention the first ever scientific assessment report on climate and environmental change at the Euro-Mediterranean level, recently presented by the Union for the Mediterranean during the IV UfM Regional Forum that took place in Barcelona on October 10.
SG Kamel reiterated the full commitment of the UfM to continue helping the OSCE further reinforce its links with its Mediterranean partners and contribute to the stability of the entire Euro-Mediterranean region.
On the margins of the 2019 Mediterranean Conference, the SG Nasser Kamel also had the opportunity to hold a bilateral meeting with the Acting Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, with whom he shared some concrete proposals of the UfM to support, as previously requested by Albania, the upcoming Albanian Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2020.
