DG for EU Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Christian Danielsson visits UfM Secretariat

Barcelona, 14 March 2017. The Director-General for EU Neighbourhood and Enlargement at the European Commission, Christian Danielsson, visited the UfM Secretariat today. Danielsson and Sijilmassi opened the 1^st UfM Working Group on Environment and Climate Change, held in Palau de Pedralbes, Barcelona. The 1^st UfM Working Group on Environment and Climate Change is a follow-up to the Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change held on 13 May 2014, which defined a Euro-Mediterranean Agenda for Sustainable Development, and aims to discuss the advancement work on the recommendations made by the Ministers.

The Director-General for EU Neighbourhood and Enlargement at the European Commission, and UfM Secretary General, Fatallah Sijilmassi, held talks on the increasing role of the UfM in European Neighbourhood Policies. Both recognised the importance of enhancing regional cooperation, as a strategic objective to foster stability and prosperity in the region.

The recent review of the European Neighbourhood Policy, in November 2015, highlighted the EU’s political will to further strengthen the UfM as the expression of co-ownership in the management of common issues in the Mediterranean.

This visit was also an opportunity for Mr. Danielsson to meet the UfM Secretariat team and to learn first-hand about the current activities and future perspectives of the UfM action under the UfM Roadmap adopted by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the UfM Member States and their representatives during the Second UfM Regional Forum on 23 and 24 January.