Reaching out to UfM Member States: Secretary General Nasser Kamel holds his first official visit to Egypt

Cairo, 10 September 2018. The Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel, paid a working visit this week to the Arab Republic of Egypt within the framework of his outreach to the UfM Member States.

During his visit, he met with Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry, who reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to the UM and to the role that its Secretariat plays in fostering regional cooperation among its Member States. Light was shed on the over 20 out 50 UfM-labelled projects of which Egypt is a beneficiary, and the discussions also covered the upcoming UfM Regional Forum that will take place in Barcelona on 8 October 2018.

UfM Secretary General also met with the Minister of Trade and Industry, Amr Nassar, where he underlined the importance of the 10^th  UfM Trade Ministerial Meeting which took place last March 2018, taking stock of the outcomes, and exploring the means for implementing the mandate given by the Ministers in their Declaration, including the organization of a UfM Business Forum to promote investment in the region.

Furthermore, in his meeting with the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El Molla, UfM Secretary General highlighted Egypt’s involvement in sustainable development projects in the region, as one of the two pillars of the UfM activities; the other being human development. The Union for the Mediterranean is active in facilitating and promoting regional dialogue and cooperation as well as concrete projects and initiatives in the fields of energy and climate action in order to deal with climate challenges in the region while advancing towards more secure and sustainable energy models.

In the meeting that he held with the Minister of Transport, Hisham Arafat, Secretary General Kamel took stock of the work carried out by the UfM Secretariat to address the complex challenges facing the transport sector and develop an efficient, integrated and sustainable transport infrastructure network through a holistic and integrated approach, with a view to improving transport connectivity in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

A meeting was also held with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit,which focused on the intra-Arab integration, and the pressing challenges that the region has been facing recently. Secretary General Kamel stressed the role assumed by the UfM as a unique platform of regional dialogue that brings together a full spectrum of stakeholders to discuss pressing issues and build consensus on sectoral agendas for the Euro-Mediterranean region.