Sofia, 25 February 2019. In the framework of his outreach to Member States, the UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, has paid his first official visit to Bulgaria on the 25th of February 2019, following an invitation by Ekaterina Zakharieva, Deputy Prime Minister for Judicial Reform and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria. During their meeting, Secretary General Kamel expressed his appreciation to Minister Zakharieva for the support of her country to the UfM, highlighting that Bulgaria has always been a natural bridge between Europe and the Southern Mediterranean countries, and has close ties to the Mare Nostrum in… read more
Athens, 19-20 February 2019. The UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, paid a working visit to Athens from 19 to 20 February 2019, where he was received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic, George Katrougalos. The new Alternate Minister for European Affairs of the Hellenic Republic, Sia Anagnostopoulou, also joined the meeting. During their meeting, Secretary General Kamel expressed his appreciation to the Minister for the support of his country to the UfM, highlighting the role of Greece as a strong proponent of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, and a country with a rich Mediterranean heritage. Secretary General Kamel also… read more
13-14 February 2019, Strasbourg. The Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), Nasser Kamel, participated in the 6th Summit of Presidents of Parliament and the 15th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the UfM (PA-UfM), which took place in Strasbourg on the 13th and 14th February. The annual gathering of the 280 members of the Parliamentary Assembly, that marks the end of the European Parliament’s Presidency of the Bureau, focused its debates on the important topic of “the challenges of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean”. European Parliament’s President Antonio Tajani, as well as EU Commissioner for… read more
Barcelona, 11 February. UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, hosted today a discussion between Josep Borrell, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation of Spain, and 15 experts and researchers from different Euro-Mediterranean countries on the state of the region and its perspectives horizon 2030. Organized in collaboration with EuroMeSCo, the main network of research centres on politics and security in the Mediterranean, the round-table debate was moderated by Ambassador Senén Florensa, President of its General Assembly. The discussion was structured around four main issues, namely: the security situation in the MENA region; migration; the social contract in MENA economies; and… read more
The 3rd Meeting of the Directors-General of Civil Protection of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Member States will launch a reflection to develop an action plan for strengthened Euro-Mediterranean cooperation on prevention campaigns, emergency response and crisis management. Through a common Civil Protection Mechanism, UfM Member States could play a key role in coordinating common responses to crises and cooperate on risk assessment, disaster prevention, preparedness and planning. Barcelona, 11 February 2019. The Directors-General of Civil Protection of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Member States gathered today at the UfM headquarters, in Barcelona, almost a decade after their last meeting…. read more
Monday 4 February 2019 – The Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel, attended this afternoon the signing ceremony of the declaration launching the #MedCooperationAlliance, a new strategy put in place by long-standing local and regional partners of the UfM to promote the sustainable and integrated territorial development of the Mediterranean basin. Signed by the regions of the Intermediterranean Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), the Euro-Région Pyrénées-Méditerranée, the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion and the networks of local authorities MedCities and Arco Latino, this declaration calls stakeholders active in the Euro-Mediterranean region to redouble their… read more
29-30 January 2019, Barcelona. The Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean hosted this past 29 and 30 January the annual meeting of the UfM Energy Platforms in Barcelona, Spain. The UfM Energy Platforms are the only existing dialogue forum gathering all Euro-Mediterranean countries as well as the key stakeholders dealing with electricity markets, renewable energy, energy efficiency and gas in the Mediterranean region. The Observatoire Mediterranén de l’Energie presented the recently published the “Mediterranean Energy Perspectives 2018” that shows the current energy trends in the region, forecasting potential 2040 scenarios. Per capita energy demand in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean… read more
29 and 30 January 2019, Barcelona. A delegation of parliamentarians from the EPP Group composed of Andrey Kovatchev (Bulgaria), Santiago Fisas (Spain) and Francis Zammit Dimech (Malta) visited the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), in Barcelona, on 29-30 January, 2019. This visit is part of a series of discussions organized with parliamentarians from UfM Member-States aimed at presenting ongoing flagship projects and initiatives promoted by the organisation. The members of the European Parliament (MEPs) met with the UfM Secretary General Nasser Kamel and other UfM representatives to discuss how to strengthen synergies and partnerships to jointly tackle common challenges in… read more
31 January 2019, Brussels. UfM Secretary General Nasser Kamel met yesterday with the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, and conveyed his gratitude for the continuous support of the European Commission to the UfM…. read more
24 January 2019, Barcelona. The Secretary General of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), Taieb Baccouche, joined by AMU’s Director of Cabinet, Political Affairs and Information, Besma Soudani, visited for the first time the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in Barcelona and met with its Secretary General, Nasser Kamel. The objective of this visit was to initiate and shape the future collaboration between the two organizations. Secretary General Kamel and Baccouche took the opportunity to present the respective roles of the two organizations and how they can build synergies to benefit the people of the Maghreb region, notably on key areas… read more
