European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee held a working session on the Union for the Mediterranean
Brussels, 31 March 2014. Union for the Mediterranean Secretary General, Mr. Fathallah Sijilmassi, intervened today at the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels. UfM Secretary General attended the meeting along with the Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union and former member of the European Parliament, Minister Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, to discuss the challenges and opportunities of regional cooperation in the Mediterranean.
The projects and initiatives developed by the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean were discussed, as well as the state of play and way forward of the Union for the Mediterranean as an operational platform fostering more regional integration in the Mediterranean. With full priority given in 2013 to finalizing the funding and launching of several labelled projects, 2014 is to be the year of the development and acceleration of the UfM project pipeline.
UfM Secretary General Fathallah Sijilmassi stressed that regional integration still stands as the major challenge for the Mediterranean region, which is a condition for social and economic development in the Southern Mediterranean countries as well as a driver for growth and economic competitiveness across the region.