The Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary General of the UfM held bilateral meeting at the UfM headquarters

Barcelona, 22 December 2014. The recently appointed Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ignacio Ybáñez, and the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), Fathallah Sijilmassi, held a bilateral meeting yesterday at the Secretariat’s headquarters, in Barcelona, to exchange views on UfM activities and discuss Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and regional challenges.

The Secretary General praised the strong commitment of Spain to the UfM, and in view of the current discussions aimed at giving a new impulse to  the European Neighborhood Policy, agreed with the Secretary of State Ybáñez on the need to continue working together and build on existing achievements to deal with current challenges in the region. They also agreed on the need to step up coordination efforts to fully draw on existing synergies and complementarities among all Euro-Mediterranean actors and stakeholders.

The Spanish Government and the UfM Secretariat will continue to work together to promote regional cooperation.