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Euro-Arab liaison office inaugurated by Vanya Walker-Leigh 15 October 2009

The European Commission-Arab League Liaison Office, aimed at formalising relations between the EU and the Arab world, was officially inaugurated yesterday by Prime Minister, Lawrence Gonzi, the European External Relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Arab League secretary-general, Amre Moussa. “The opening of this Liaison Office marks a high point of a mission that goes back 45 years,” said Dr Gonzi. “The international span of this liaison office encompasses Europe, Africa and Asia; the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.” “I hope it will become a significant node in the network of shared governance and cultural dialogue between two sets of peoples whose histories, economies and cultures have long been entwined,” added Dr Gonzi. Describing the inauguration as an important juncture in EU-Arab relations, Malta’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Tonio Borg, said that “the European Commission is formalising its relations with the Arab world in a way that it has never done before. Moreover, it is a concrete recognition of the importance the European Commission gives to an increased and more open dialogue with the Arab world as an equal partner”. An established dialogue was the politically right thing to do “we are committed to... a regular, permanent channel of communication and exchange of views... developing a forum for the meeting of minds and, more importantly, for the development of ideas and concrete actions”. Areas of mutually beneficial cooperation identified included trade, tourism, sports, civil protection, higher education and research, energy, environment and administrative capacity. “Systems and guarantees on both ends should be worked upon in order to allow for secure economic transactions between the two blocs and while increasing trade, minimising the risk that is inherent in economic activity of any nature.” Dr Borg made clear his hopes that this EC-backed venture would in time become a more politically significant EU institution. “Credibility in the objectives of the Liaison Office will be more strongly manifest to the League of Arab States partners if politically endorsed by all the EU Member States,” he said. “In this respect, a political mandate for upgrading this Office to a more permanent institution within the EU Secretariat would be both deserving and necessary if the propagation of a pre-emptive dialogue, in a multi-disciplinary framework, is to secure a wider understanding and a deeper sense of trust in this inter regional context.” Welcoming Malta’s unique Mediterranean character and role and its generous hospitality with its “elegant building” (the former MCESD location), Dr Moussa said that the EU and the Arab world were in fact “resuming” a former political dialogue and must build the agenda of the 21st century, including the search for joint action on climate change, the environment and human development. “The clash of civilisations is one between extremist wings,” he emphasised. “There is none. Our responsibility is to prove by our performance in this new venture, the value added of our work benefiting both sides.” Ms Ferrero-Waldner said that it was better to start small, like a seed, or a baby and grow smoothly. The establishment of the office “is the realisation of common political will to work together”. EU-Arab League cooperation had already started with the establishment in March by the EU Commission of a crisis room and early response centre in the League’s headquarters in Cairo. A conference in Vienna about the culture of dialogue and a training session in Brussels on electoral monitoring had taken place recently. Established in 1945, the Arab League’s 22 members include all the Mediterranean Arab states, the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia, and six African nations – Sudan, Djibouti, Yemen, Mauretania, Somalia and the Comoros Islands. Malta proposed this office, whose launch is supported by a EUR500,000 European Commission grant authorised last July, to follow up the ground-breaking initiative pioneered by former foreign minister, Michael Frendo, of hosting the first ever EU-Arab League summit held in Malta in February 2008. The proposal was formally accepted by the External Relations Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and the Arab League secretary-general, Amre Moussa, during the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) foreign ministers’ meeting in Marseilles last November – where Malta’s bid to host the UfM secretariat lost out to Spain’s offer of Barcelona.