MFAEI hosted meeting of representatives of scientific institutions and research institutes for purposes of integrating wider scientific community into Croatia’s activities within Union for the Mediterranean

The meeting’s participants were informed about the Mediterranean 2030 project, launched by the Paris Institute of Economic Forecasting for the Greater Mediterranean (IPEMED – Institut de Prospective Économique du Monde Méditerranéen). The aim of said project is to draw up a joint strategy for the Mediterranean in cooperation with the scientific institutions and research institutes of the Union for the Mediterranean members. The strategy will be presented at the next Union for the Mediterranean summit in July 2010. The project also aims at setting up a long-term cooperation with the Mediterranean research and scientific institutions.

Director for Europe and North America at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Aleksandar Heina and Union for the Mediterranean Coordinator Nives Malenica familiarized the participants with the activities Croatia is carrying out as part of its Union for the Mediterranean membership. During its first year as a member, Croatia has created institutional preconditions for the political, sector, and civil society cooperation. Integrating civil society into the Union for the Mediterranean process and establishing interaction with the governments and parliaments, which the Paris and Marseilles declarations advocate, will contribute to the overall efforts of this multilateral partnership.

July 13th 2008, at the Paris Summit of the Union for the Mediterranean, the Republic of Croatia became its member, accepting the acquis of the Barcelona Process and the content of the Paris Declaration which founded the Union. The Union for the Mediterranean is institutionally incorporated within the existing architecture of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (the so-called Barcelona Process, founded in 1995) and represents the key instrument of the European Union’s foreign policy towards the Mediterranean region. The goals of this multilateral partnership is to contribute through a stronger political cooperation and heightened project dimension to the rebuilding of the Mediterranean’s role as a region of peace, cooperation, tolerance and prosperity. The Republic of Croatia, with its transitional experience and active cooperation in the region of South Eastern Europe, strives to lend a constructive support for the Union for the Mediterranean processes.