3th Euro-Med Ministerial Conference on the Environment

At the core of the agenda will be the endorsement of the timetable for the Horizon 2020 Initiative - the EC initiative to depollute the Mediterranean Sea by 2020 - presented at the Preparatory Meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Environment Ministers that was held in Brussels (Belgium) on 14-15 September 2006, as well as proposals for broader cooperation between the EC and basin countries to effectively invert current environmental degradation trends. The EC proposes to achieve environmental cooperation by setting up financial assistance mechanisms, by strengthening dialogue and ownership, by enhancing coordination and by promoting procedures to ensure the exchange of environmental knowledge and know-how that have proved successful at the regional level.