Minister Grabar-Kitarović participated at ministerial conference of Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and held series of bilateral meetings at its margins

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is based on the Barcelona Process launched in 1995 and represents a strategic partnership between the European Union and ten Mediterranean countries with the aim of promoting peace, economic prosperity, and the development of social and cultural co-operation. Euro-Med conferences on the level of foreign ministers are being held every 18 month, with the possibility of one informal session in between. The previous conference was held in Luxembourg in May 2005, and this year’s conference in Tampere represents a build-up of sorts to the Luxembourg meeting.

At the margins of the conference, Minister Grabar-Kitarović held separate bilateral meetings with Tunisian Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelwaheb Abdallah, Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelah Al-Khatib, and Algerian Foreign Minister Mohammed Bedjaoui.

Minister Grabar-Kitarović informed her collocutors about the process of Croatia’s EU membership accession and its foreign policy priorities. Familiarising them with the reforms and activities being conducted in Croatia, Minister Grabar-Kitarović spoke about the combat against corruption, especially during the meeting with Algerian Foreign Minister Bedjaoui. The meeting with Jordanian Foreign Minister Al-Khatib focused on a stronger trade co-operation between the Jordanian and Croatian businessmen. In that regard, Minister Grabar-Kitarović confirmed that there is room for stimulating the economic co-operation. The meetings also reviewed the bilateral relations between the countries, exchanged political opinions on the EU and NATO, and pending the NATO Summit in Riga, 28 November 2006, exchanged the opinions on the future of the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as its priority mission ISAF, conducted under the UN mandate in Afghanistan.

The collocutors also discussed the pan-European system of diagonal accumulation of goods’ origin, based on the economic agreements between the EU members, EFTA and Eastern European countries – a system that enables its members to export goods containing parts produced in another country, which has in time been extended to the countries of the Barcelona Process and has grown into the enlarged Pan-Euro-Med system. Minister Grabar-Kitarović said that Croatia, as a Mediterranean country and a future EU member, is ready to actively join the Pan-Euro-Med as soon as possible, based on its individual achievements. Minister Grabar-Kitarović pointed out the meeting of the criteria Croatia has undertaken in that regard, adding that Croatia’s participation in the Pan-Euro-Med diagonal accumulation system will contribute to improvements in the economic relations between all of its trade partners and pointing out that Croatia is willing to share its transitional experiences with the countries in the region.