BOSNIA JOINS THE UNION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

PARIS, France (July 14,2008) - Bosnia was among 43 countries that became members of The Union for the Mediterranean (French: Union pour la Méditerranée) in Paris yesterday.The Bosnian delegation was led by the Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic.

The Union countries will cooperate through concrete projects in the areas of environmental protection, solar energy, civil protection, availability of drinking water and maritime and road transport.Libya was the only country to reject membership in the Union.

Bosnia was among 43 countries that became members of The Union for the Mediterranean (French: Union pour la Méditerranée) in Paris yesterday.The Bosnian delegation was led by the Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic.

The Union countries will cooperate through concrete projects in the areas of environmental protection, solar energy, civil protection, availability of drinking water and maritime and road transport.Libya was the only country to reject membership in the Union.

The Paris summit, a diplomatic success for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who holds the EU's rotating presidency, may be richer in symbolism than substance, at least to start with.

France and Egypt will be the first countries to co-chair the new body, but details such as the location and powers of its secretariat remain to be resolved, and the Middle East conflicts that bedeviled past EU-Mediterranean cooperation loom large.

The Paris summit brought together heads of state and government of all 27 EU nations and leaders from North Africa, the Middle East and the southeastern Europe.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is the only leader who boycotted the summit, while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan finally agreed to attend despite tension between Turkey and France over Paris' opposition to Turkey's EU membership.

The summit also "brought together" Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese President Michel Sleiman..

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had a series of bilateral meetings with key leaders on Saturday and Sunday to prepare for the summit. But no such meetings were scheduled between leaders of Israel and Syria, which have technically been at war since 1948.

"The purpose of the summit of the Union for the Mediterranean is that in the Mediterranean, around the Mediterranean, we learn to love each other rather than hate each other and make wars," Sarkozy told reporters after a meeting with Abbas and Olmert.

"The very fact that we are all going to be united in the same room, attending the same summit meeting, is historic," he said.

The Union for the Mediterranean was an idea championed by Sarkozy in his presidential campaign last year, inspired by the Barcelona Process created in 1995.

The union will hold one summit every two years. It will establish a co-presidency made up of an EU nation and a non-EU nation, and a permanent secretariat.

The union will concentrate on regional cooperation projects, including environmental protection in the Mediterranean, the development of solar energy and water management, solutions to increased natural hazards and infrastructure and transport deficits; economic and social development programs and higher education and research programs.
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