Role
Its agenda was the following:
- Security and stability in the Mediterranean;
- Agreeing on shared values and initializing a long-term process for cooperation in the Mediterranean;
- Promoting democracy, good governance and human rights;
- Achieving mutually satisfactory trading terms for the region's partners, the "region" consisting of the countries that participated;
- Establishing a complementary policy to the United States' presence in the Mediterranean.
The Barcelona Process comprises three "baskets":
- economic - to work for shared prosperity in the Mediterranean, including the Association Agreements on the bilateral level
- political - promotion of political values, good governance and democracy
- cultural - cultural exchange and strengthening civil society
Javier Solana opened the conference saying that they were brought together to straighten out the "clash of civilizations" and misunderstandings that there had been between them, and that it "was auspicious" that they had convened on the 900th anniversary of the First Crusade. He described the conference as a process to foster cultural and economic unity in the Mediterranean region. The Barcelona Treaty was drawn up by the 27 countries in attendance, and Javier Solana, who represented Spain as their foreign minister during their turn at the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, was credited with the diplomatic accomplishment.
Read more about this topic: Euromediterranean Partnership
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