Enhancing EU/Arab dialogue

The EU-Arab League Foreign Ministers meeting in Malta is another foreign policy success that has been achieved under the stewardship of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Frendo. The meeting in Malta will facilitate the task of promoting a more enhanced structured dialogue between the European Union and the League of Arab States and its member states and should serve to launch a regular Euro-Arab forum of interaction.

A better structured EU/Arab League political dialogue will focus on building confidence and trust and strengthening policy measures between Europe and the Arab world on global and strategic issues of mutual interest. An open exchange of views on such aspects as development, dialogue among cultures, potential areas of cooperation and the general situation in the Middle East will provide an important visible signal to everyone that Euro-Arab commonalities outweigh the threat of extremism and fundamentalism.

The Malta initiative has been a tangible contribution by Malta to the European Union's common foreign and security policy (CFSP). As a member of the EU, Malta has consistently navigated through contemporary Euro-Mediterranean international relations with the specific objective of contributing to peace and prosperity across the Euro-Mediterranean area. The EU/Arab League forum of enhanced cooperation underscores Malta's vocation of highlighting clearly Euro-Mediterranean security challenges and concerns.

Closer Euro-Arab cooperation would of course adopt all of the existing mechanisms of partnership (association agreements, action plans, trade provisions and financial cooperation) that already exist through the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and European Neighbourhood Policy. The main goal of this initiative is to create a more positive atmosphere between Europe and the Arab world in all sectors, including politics, education, culture and business. The success of this initiative will lie in the informality of regular interaction between the two shores of the Mediterranean.

When it comes to immediate practical forms of cooperation, Euro-Arab states should seek to cultivate a pre-emptive dialogue that addresses in a more comprehensive manner the plethora of security challenges existing in the Mediterranean including the management of illegal migration, the surveillance of pollution, the monitoring of fishing activities and the carrying out of search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

A more enhanced structured dialogue between Europe and the Arab world will also strengthen efforts aimed at creating a functioning free trade area between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Closer EU-Arab relations could serve as a basis upon which long-term cooperation in the areas of ESDP and energy could be fostered. The success or failure of coordinating Euro-Arab security and energy policies will determine future relations between these two adjacent regions of the Mediterranean. Such an engagement should focus on immediately enhancing Euro-Arab R&D in the sphere of innovation, especially when it comes to renewable and alternative energy. Malta's Euro-Mediterranean Initiative for Technology and Innovation (EuroMedITI) is already starting to implement such an agenda.

The EU Arab policy dialogue mechanism will also add momentum to the EU's Neighbourhood Policy that is being implemented and which seeks to integrate southern and eastern neighbours closer into the fabric of European society. Future Euro-Arab cooperation needs to ensure that people to people interaction is at the forefront, especially young people. It is essential that a much larger number of students from the Arab world are given the opportunity to study at EU universities. The Bologna process must be made functional to them. The same goes for joint EU Arab research projects. Complementing the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership scholarship scheme launched last June in Cairo, the Euro-Arab League initiative should seek to introduce a package of programmes that seeks to tap into the wealth of intelligence in the region via scholarships, seminars and workshops.

Promoting closer Euro-Arab cooperation in the educational and commercial spheres can only take place if both public and private stakeholders work hand in hand with a long-term perspective to attract a larger number of European and Arab professionals to their shores. This will, of course, require an updating of procedures for visas.

Last but not least, an enhanced Euro-Arab dialogue needs to focus much more seriously on climate policy and the implications of climate change on the Mediterranean. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of its resolution 43/53, which recognised that "climate change is a common concern of mankind" and led to the adoption of the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change. This resolution was the result of the initiative taken by Malta in September 1988 to place for the first time the problem of climate change on the international political agenda. The Euro-Arab League initiative provides an excellent opportunity to further advance cooperation in this strategically important sector.

Now that the Malta foreign policy initiative to commence an EU-Arab League structured dialogue has been achieved, all actors involved in this exercise need to focus on delivering practical modalities of cooperation. Such an enhanced dialogue will also provide more dynamism and substance to the EMP, ENP and also sub regional groupings such as the Mediterranean Forum and the 5 + 5 which recently met in Morocco. In such an exercise of network building one must also remember the very important role that Mediterranean municipalities can play. If we can manage to establish a truly interactive network between them, this will go a long way to fostering a closer understanding of one another.

The longer-term objective of an enhanced political dialogue between the EU and the Arab world should be to foster a more conducive political environment within which a political dialogue that aims towards a convergence rather than a clash of civilisations is achieved.

Prof. Calleya is an international relations analyst.