ANSAmed
Build water plants, highways, Secretary General Sijilmassi says
(ANSAmed) – BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 26 – The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) must produce tangible results, UfM Secretary General Fathallah Sijilmassi told the European Commission’s Mediterranean Prospects (MEDPRO) closing conference on Tuesday.
”This is the lesson we learned from the Arab Spring,” Sijilmassi said. ”We are the least integrated region of the world, but all its countries are facing the challenges of unemployment and economic crisis.” A multilateral 43-country partnership, the UfM acts as a coordinator between the southern and northern shores of the Mediterranean Basin. As an institution, it could bring about actual regional integration, and this could make the difference in the region’s economic recovery, Sijilmassi pointed out.
”Will we succeed in our objectives? I don’t know,” said Sijilmassi. ”But someone must take on this responsibility, and we are a platform for working together.” Tangible results, the secretary general said, hinge on UfM pilot projects such as a planned 100-million cubic-meter capacity desalination plant near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, which would relieve a major water deficit for the population of the Strip. The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is putting up half the financing, or 155 million euros, and France is investing 10 million euros. ”We expect feasibility studies, management and financing to be in place by year’s end,” the UfM secretary general said.
”After that, it will be up to political decision-makers” to give the operational green light.
Such concrete UfM projects would send ”a signal” to the entire region, according to Sijilmassi. Another such project is a planned Maghreb highway. ”You can’t have regional integration without infrastructure,” Sijilmassi pointed out. The UfM brand on these projects gives them an extra leg to stand on, because ”it means all 43 member countries approved it,” Sijilmassi explained. (ANSAmed).
