Barcelona: UfM capital and driver of Mediterranean unity

Barcelona has become the "capital and driver of Mediterranean unity", according to the new Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), Ahmad Masadeh, speaking as the UfM presented him at the ceremony to open its new Barcelona headquarters on 4 March.

This new stage in Euro-Mediterranean relations is intended to achieve a more dynamic association of EU countries and their Mediterranean partners, according to a press release from the EU's Spanish Presidency.

The ceremony at the Pedralbes Palace in Barcelona was attended by the Foreign Ministers of Spain, France, Egypt and Jordan, the European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle, the Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, the High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilisations Jorge Sampaio, the Catalonian President José Montilla, and the Mayor of Barcelona Jordi Hereu.

Earlier, the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos had expressed the need to find "pathways to coexistence" in the region, adding that the Spanish EU Presidency would work enthusiastically for the UfM Summit on 
7-8 June.


The UfM welcomed, from its beginning, the principles, values and goals set out 15 years ago in the Declaration of Barcelona: to work together to make the Mediterranean a place of peace, development and human and cultural dialogue.



The six priority projects of the organisation are the de-pollution of the Mediterranean, maritime and overland highways, civil protection, alternative energies and producing a Mediterranean Solar Energy Plan, the creation of the Euro-Mediterranean University and the development of business in the region.

--
Štefan Füle; European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy; at the Inauguration of the seat of the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean:
Füle: UfM Secretariat an opportunity and a hope for the whole region