Ekaterina Zaharieva to the Participants in the Fifth Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean Bulgaria Prioritizes Strengthening of Mediterranean Cooperation
27 November 2020 News
„Bulgaria is strongly committed to the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, including its regional dimension. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated yet again the need for solidarity and joint, united efforts, which, I am convinced, offer the only way to successfully overcome the crisis that we are facing.“
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva said this addressing the participants in the Fifth Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean which was held via vide conference during the marking of the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration.
„25 years after the Barcelona Declaration united us with a joint vision and values for a shared space of peace and security, economic and social prosperity and desire to encourage better understanding among the people, we should continue to work even more actively toward these goals,“ Minister Zaharieva said.
The possibilities for strengthening cooperation in such areas as energy, infrastructure, education, climate change, jobs creation were discussed with a focus on young people and equality of the sexes. Minister Zaharieva asserted that there is significant potential in the spheres of security, economy and healthcare.
The Union for the Mediterranean is a regional organisation of the countries in the Mediterranean basin that was established in 2008 and has 43 members: The 27 members of the EU, the United Kingdom, and 15 Mediterranean countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans {Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, the Palestinian Autonomy, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Libya as an observer. The League of Arab States is a member of the Union.