9-10 May Mediterranean Forum

Date: 16/05/1996

THE foreign ministers of 11 Mediterranean nations - Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey - met for a two-day informal gathering on the scenic Amalfi coast to exchange ideas on how to ease political tensions in the region and boost economic development and employment.

DESPITE advertising the meeting as a friendly gathering, Italian Foreign Minister Susanna Agnelli used the occasion to criticise the French government for its go-it-alone policy in the Middle East. Embarrassed by French diplomatic trips to Israel, Lebanon and Syria when she was visiting the same countries on behalf of the Union, Agnelli said France should not conduct its own policy but should be a part of EU policy.

ALGERIAN Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf asked his counterparts to help stamp out terrorism, describing it as a “menace to the stability of this region”. Participants in the meeting also discussed how to send people who emigrate illegally to Europe back to North Africa.

MINISTERS agreed to promote co-productions for television as a means of sharing culture. They also discussed other ideas aimed at boosting cultural ties between their countries such as the holding of Spanish-Arab music festivals and a region-wide football tournament.

IT was agreed that the Mediterranean Forum would meet again in Algeria in the first half of 1997. But ministers did not say whether the club would have expanded by then to take in Israel, Cyprus or Slovenia, all of whom have asked to join.