G7 and Deauville Partnership Foreign Ministers meet in New York to support democratic transitions in the Middle East and North Africa

Barcelona, 26 September 2014. For the fourth time since its inception in 2011, G7 Foreign Ministers and Deauville partner countries met to discuss current developments and ways to support Arab countries in democratic transition through the Deauville Partnership. The meeting took place today under the German presidency of the Deauville Partnership, on the margins of the UN General Assembly, in New York.

During the meeting, Ministers analysed the current context and profound changes that have taken place in the region, and discussed with G7-leaders, international and regional organisations and international financial institutions, ways to assist countries in transition in their paths toward achieving more progress in democracy, prosperity and stability efforts.

Addressing the audience, the Secretary General of the UfM, Fathallah Sijilmassi, underlined the importance of reaching stability in these countries in order to address common regional challenges and achieve sustainable development as well as inclusive growth in the entire region: ‘Within the framework of its mandate, the UfM Secretariat stands ready to contribute to the efforts of the international community and collaborate with all the concerned stakeholders for the stability and development of those countries in transition and the Euro-Mediterranean region as a whole’.

Following this objective, and according to its role of promoting regional cooperation projects, the UfM Secretariat has collaborated in securing funding for some of its projects, namely ‘LOGISMED-TA’ or ‘Promoting Financial inclusion through Mobile Finance Services’, through the MENA Transition Fund, which was launched within the Deauville Partnership’s framework, as a broad-based tool to provide grants for technical cooperation in transition countries with the overarching goal of achieving peace and stability.

The Deauville Partnership was launched in 2011 to support democratic transitions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Jordan and Yemen. Regional partners such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar were invited to join the partnership acknowledging their important role with regard to regional developments. Since then, the partnership has met several times at ministerial and senior official levels. G7 Leaders have expressed their continued commitment to the partnership. International financial institutions, relevant international organisations and regional development banks and funds have formed their own platform within the partnership to support coordination and avoid redundancies in their actions.

Photo credits: Meeting in the framework of the G7 Deauville Partnership, © Photothek/Köhler