AnsaMed
(ANSAmed) – BARI, JANUARY 30 – Europe is discussing the environment, sustainability and cooperation policies between the EU and Mediterranean countries as part of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), which got underway yesterday afternoon and which will draw to a close this evening.
Taking part in the international forum held at the former postal offices building will be representatives of sovranational institutions and the president of the Puglia region Nichi Vendola, who will be making the final report on the issues of desertification and climate change. The plenary session is chaired jointly by Mercedes Bresso, chairman of the Regions Committee, and Mohamed Boudra, chairman of Morocco’s Taza-Al Hoceima-Taounate region, whose term is about to expire and whose successor will be elected in Bari. The works began with two meetings for the coordination of the group of 16 partners of the Mediterranean and that of the 84 partners of European Union member states, followed by the seventh meeting of the ARLEM bureau. The initiative will today get underway with the third plenary session of the assembly on issues connected with the preserving of natural resources. The focus will be on renewable energy, cultural heritage and the role of SMEs in economic development. The president of the Puglia Region, Nichi Vendola, will be reporting on desertification and climate change in the Mediterranean, his second assessment on the issue after the one issued in Brussels in June 2011. Three other reports will be examined and adopted: the first on the conservation and valorisation of cultural heritage in the Mediterranean (prepared by Turkey’s Asim Guzelbey), the second focused on the role of SMEs in the Mediterranean (by Morocco’s Fathallah Oualalou) and the third on renewable energy in the Mediterranean (by Wallonia’s Michel Lebrun).
In addition to taking stock of partnerships and joint projects between regions and cities on the three shores of the Mediterranean, will also be analyzing new cooperation opportunities which have opened up due to recent developments in the institutional structure of a number of Mediterranean countries, involved in regionalization processes and the devolution of powers to territorial bodies. Representatives from Euro-Mediterranean cities and regions will therefore be able to exchange best practices drawn up to deal with the major challenges connected with sustainability.(ANSAmed).
