UfM supports the promotion of a culture of Mediation in the Mediterranean Region

Brdo, 11 March 2014.  The Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean participated today in the seminar ‘Promoting a Culture of Mediation and Prevention in the Mediterranean’, organised in Bro, Slovenia, by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bled Strategic Forum. The seminar was held within the framework of the Initiative on Mediation in the Mediterranean Region.

Spain and Morocco launched the Initiative on Mediation in the Mediterranean in September 2012. By focusing on a specific region, the initiative, of which Slovenia is a participant country, is part of a broader international endeavour to encourage national and regional actors to promote mediation as a tool for conflict prevention, resolution and peace-building. In this regard, as an operational platform for the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and for the development of projects on a specific number of areas, the UfM Secretariat is addressing the potential roots of long-term conflicts and thereby contributing to ensure peace and stability in the region.

The event was attended by several ministers, high-level guests, experienced mediators, representatives from the Mediterranean and other interested countries, relevant international and regional organisations as well as representatives of civil society, think tanks and academia. The seminar in Brdo is part of a series of seminars launched in February 2013 under the framework of the Initiative on Mediation in the Mediterranean. The first two seminars of the Initiative were held in Madrid and Rabat in February and July, 2013 respectively.