Jordan will assume the southern co-presidency of the UfM

The Senior Officials of the UFM met on June 28^th in Barcelona within the framework of the regular meetings between the 43 UfM country members.

During this meeting a major announcement was made: Jordan expressed its willingness to assume the southern co-presidency of the UfM. The Jordanian announcement was welcomed unanimously by all the representatives. The northern co-presidency is assumed by the European Union since March, 2012. The Co-presidency was assumed previously by France and Egypt.

With the EU-Jordan Co-presidency, the UFM enters a new phase of its evolution and will enable it to provide the needed value added for strengthened regional cooperation in the Mediterranean.

The meeting was also attended by the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Mr Philippe de Fontaine Vive, who delivered an important presentation in which he confirmed the willingness of the EIB to provide EUR 500 million with the aim to support mature UfM projects and the overall commitment of the EIB to be a major player in the development of socio-economic projects in the region.

During the meeting, the UfM Secretariat presented three new projects: Skills for Success: Employability skills for women; Creation of a Euro Mediterranean University in Fez; andOvercoming Governance Challenges to the Mobilization of Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector. Furthermore, a progress report of the already labelled projects in progress was presented: LOGISMEDTA and Trans-Maghreb Highway; Gaza Desalination Project as well as a presentation of the state of play of the Mediterranean Solar Plan.