19 March 2007…..

Assistant Minister for European Affairs, Ambassador Fatma El-Zahraa Etman headed Egypt's delegation at the recent Senior Officials' Meeting of the Barcelona Process and the Euro-Mediterranean Committee in Brussels, upon directives from Foreign Minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

"Political Dialogue" topped the list of topics on the agenda, where Ambassador Etman delivered an address on behalf of the Arab Group, tackling the developments of the current situation in the Middle East, stressing the importance of the stage beyond the Mecca Agreement, which is considered a positive development on the Palestinian arena. Ambassador Etman’s intervention also pointed out to the dangers of the Israeli digging operations underneath and in the surroundings the Aqsa Mosque; which constitute legal and political violations, emphasizing on the necessity of being committed to the Arab Peace Initiative adopted in Beirut in 2002, without any tampering with its content.

The meeting also tackled the importance of boosting dialogue and cooperation between the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership on one hand, and the activity of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) on the other, as the later is considered one of the pivots of partnership and one of the popular diplomacy tools.

Egypt expressed the interest of the Arab Group to convene the proposed symposium on "the Role of Media in combating Terrorism" (Dublin – May 21^st, 2007). The symposium will be a ripe opportunity to probe the relation between media and terrorism in all its implicit and explicit forms, where the media is exploited as a tool in the campaigns of defaming religions and religious symbols, or distorting particular cultures or nations, resulting in an atmosphere of hatred and hostility, and sparking terrorist acts. It was also stressed that the symposium should take into account the difference between terrorism and the legitimate right to resist occupation. The Arab Group’s interest that the symposium endorses the Egyptian Initiative of combating terrorism through the internet, which has become one of the effective media means, and ratified by the Arab League as an Arab Initiative, was also highlighted in the Egyptian intervention.

Moreover, Egypt expressed interest in hosting the First Euro-Mediterranean Conference for Ministers of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology on 18 June 2007. The draft conclusions prepared by Egypt, as the Arab Group coordinator, was also demonstrated. Those conclusions shall be issued by the ministerial conference, including the aims of the conference and the practical steps to be implemented. Egypt stressed that the human factor is the central interest of the Arab Paper, which focused on human development as a principal priority, in addition to providing the infrastructure necessary in this regard.

The preparations for the first Euro-Mediterranean meeting of the ad hoc Work Group on the "Horizons of Investment Southern the Mediterranean" (Brussels 23 April 2007), was also discussed This meeting came in response to the request of the Arab Group, as investment is considered a primary factor of development , and in creating new job opportunities in the region.