UfM foreign ministers gather in Barcelona to strengthen Euro-Mediterranean cooperation amid regional tensions

AMMAN — The 9th Union for the Mediterranean Regional Forum, which centred on the alarming situation in the Middle East as well as the organisation’s reform, took place in Barcelona.

The urgency to work together was reiterated for the achievement of an immediate and permanent ceasefire as a top priority in Gaza and in Lebanon, according to a statement from UfM.

As underlined in the UfM Co-Presidency joint statement, “there should be work with all stakeholders to ensure a sustained mechanism for uninterrupted and unhindered delivery of humanitarian supplies to all parts of Gaza, the resumption of all essential services there, and the release of all hostages and innocent detained civilians”.

The UfM Secretariat is deeply concerned about the dire humanitarian catastrophe in the region and is committed to playing an active role as soon as early recovery is possible.

 It has already begun working on initiatives in this regard, including support for UNIMED and An-Najah National University’s Technical Education Support for Higher Education Student Initiative – TESI that is set to allow some 50,000 Palestinian higher education students to finish their studies online, and it is exploring others in areas such as employment, the water, energy, food and ecosystems (WEFE) nexus, or urban development, the statement said.