Onderwerpen Euro-mediterrane conferentie, Tampere 27-28 november 2006 (en)

The most important institution in the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation process (the "Barcelona process") is the Conference of Foreign Ministers, which meets at 18-month intervals. The eighth Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Ministers, due to be held in Tampere on 27-28 November, will be the biggest Euro-Med meeting during Finland's Presidency. The meeting will be attended by EU Foreign Ministers and their Mediterranean counterparts (from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunis, Turkey and the Palestinian Administration), as well as representatives from the EU institutions and observers. The discussions will address key issues relating to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. The meeting will be chaired by the Finnish Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja.

At the meeting, the Foreign Ministers will review the progress made in implementing the five-year work programme for the Barcelona Process adopted in November 2005, and lay down guidelines for work over the coming year. At their working dinner, the Ministers will focus on the situation in the Middle East. The speakers at the plenary session will tackle issues such as inter-cultural dialogue, the EU's new neighbourhood policy and the related financing instrument, funding issues and working methods relating to the Euro-Med partnership and the question of how to make the partnership more transparent. The meeting will also discuss the outcome of other ministerial meetings that took place earlier this year. The final choice of topics for discussion will be determined largely by the political situation at the time.

One of the joint goals of the Barcelona process is to increase the involvement of NGOs in Euro-Med cooperation. The Conference of Foreign Ministers will be preceded by a "Civil Forum", an NGO meeting that will serve to inform the Conference of NGOs' views on the process and on the issues it addresses. The Civil Forum will be held in Marrakech, Morocco, on 4-7 November 2006. The Conference of Foreign Ministers will also overlap with the conference of national networks belonging to the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, scheduled to take place in Tampere on 25-27 November 2006.