UfM Secretary General meets High Representative of the United Nations for the Alliance of Civilizations

13 June 2019, Barcelona. The Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), Nasser Kamel, received today in the UfM headquarters in Barcelona the High Representative of the United Nations for the Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), Miguel Ángel Moratinos.

UNAOC is mentioned in the Paris Declaration of 2008, that established the UfM, as an important institution for the development of the Cultural dimension of Euro-Mediterranean relations. The UfM is a member of the Group of Friends of the UNAOC and the two institutions have already cooperated in a number of joint initiatives, namely the High Level meeting on Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue, held in the Palau de Pedralbes in July 2015.

The visit of HR Moratinos, who took office last January 2019, allowed for the analysis of bilateral cooperation between the two institutions, namely as a follow-up to the discussions had in the Ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends, held in September 2018, and the 8^th Global Forum of the UNAOC, of November 2018.

The meeting was also an opportunity for the Secretary General and the High Representative, who played an important role in the holding of the Barcelona Conference of November 1995, the launching of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the process that led to the creation of the UfM and the instalment of its offices in Barcelona, to discuss the present state of Euro-Mediterranean relations.

Moratinos praised the central role of the UfM as a platform for  dialogue and cooperation and reaffirmed his engagement to support its projects and initiatives to the benefit of the Euro-Mediterranean region.