Besides occupying one of the posts of deputy secretary general of the Mediterranean Union, Malta will also host the liaison office for coordination between the EU and the Arab States, Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said.

This proposal was co-sponsored by the European Commission and the League of Arab States during the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) ministerial conference, which was held in Marseilles and concluded yesterday.

Dr Borg said that in this way Malta shall play an even more active role on all those issues it has been interested in.

“At the present time – and given the current economic crisis – it is absolutely necessary for us to implement cooperation programmes using funds from the European Investment Bank and the private sector, but also European Union financing.”

The UfM decided to support small and medium-sized enterprises across the Mediterranean and there will be programmes and projects related to renewable sources of energy and the Motorways of the Sea, a project that will link the northern to the southern part of the Mediterranean, providing support to the shipping industry.

“I believe that we have done a good job and that we must continue, because our goal is – as always – to provide financial support through the Union for the Mediterranean to specific sectors that need it,” Dr Borg said.