International Conference As at 4 April 2002

Europe, the United States and the Mediterranean Europe - Etats-Unis - Méditerranée Hotel Juan Carlos I, Av. Diagonal 661, Barcelona 22-24 novembre / November 22-24 / 22-24 novembre 2002 and in partnership with / et en partenariat avec Institut Aspen France co-sponsored by NATO Office of Information and Press (Limited participation by invitations only) Preliminary Program / Programme préliminaire Friday, 21 November 2002 21:00 Welcoming dinner / dîner d'accueil at Palau Pedralbes, offered by Joan Clos, Mayor of Barcelona Saturday, 22 November 2002 09:00 - 9:30 Participants' registration / Inscription des participants 09:30 - 9:45 Welcoming remarks / Souhait de bienvenue: Jordi Pujol, President, Generalitat de Cataloña, Barcelona Carlo Scognamiglio, Chairman, Aspen Institute Italia, Rome 09:45 - 11:30 Session I / Première Session: The European-Mediterranean Partnership: from rhetoric to reality Overcoming the dualism of a privileged partnership with Maghreb countries and a global partnership. Holes in the Barcelona process. Identifying common principles on which to base relations in the Mediterranean area. Developing the best possible institutional framework for managing relations with the southern shore and identifying a common body of rules and shared principles. 11:30 - 11:45 Coffee break 11:45 - 13:30 Session II/ Deuxième Session: The Security Dimension The new post-September 11 strategic context and its impact on relations with Mediterranean countries and the Middle East. What points should be stressed in an eventual US-Europe agenda for cooperation in regional security? How to render NATO's ESDI (European Security and Defense Identity) and the EU's ESDP (European Security and Defense Policy) complementary? What of the activities undertaken by NATO's "Partnership for Peace" could be adapted to those countries in the Mediterranean Dialogue so as to better focus the latter's objectives? 13:30 - 15.30 Buffet lunch 15:30 - 16:45 Session III / Troisième Session: Political Transition and Dialogue of Civilizations Europe's image abroad: dialogue between religions, democracy, freedom and human rights, globalization and solidarity. How to increase tolerance, knowledge and mutual understanding in the EU's relations with Mediterranean countries and with the Middle East? How to improve convergence as far as respect for minorities in the region is concerned? Specific domestic problems in single countries: the most relevant cases and their impact on defining common rules of conduct. Identifying principals on which everyone can agree and on which to base regional cooperation in diverse sectors. Political-economic conditions that render more effective the tools for cooperation. 16:45 - 17:00 Coffee break 17:00 - 18:30 Session III / Troisième Session: Political Transition and Dialogue of Civilizations (cont.) Solving Cyprus' problems and the country's entry into the EU. What confidence-building measures might facilitate meetings between the island's two communities? Political equality and equal participation for Turkish Cypriots at membership negotiations. Results of the direct intra-community talks and their impact on the future of EU-Turkey relations. What role might Turkey play in an eventual security agreement? 21:00 Dinner at the Palau Generalitat de Cataloña / dîner au Palais de la Generalitat de Cataloña offered by Jordi Pujol, President of Catalonia Friday, 21 November 2002 09:30 - 11:30 Session IV / Quatrième Session: The Economic Dimension The euro and its impact on trade relations in the Mediterranean area. Access to the European market for products of private European investment in Mediterranean countries. Promoting investment, innovation, technology and quality, and adopting and adapting the primary mechanisms of the internal EU market to create a free trade zone and a homogeneous economic zone by 2010. Regional integration of the Mediterranean's southern shore and, in particular, the Maghreb Agadir initiative. The establishment, within the EIB, of a reinforced Euro-Mediterranean investment facility and the eventual creation of an EIB majority owned subsidiary for partner countries in the Mediterranean. Cooperation in e-government to close the digital divide and create economic synergies. Projects already launched with Tunisia and Jordan to redo the accounting systems of the public administration and create a platform for e-procurement for foreign trade. 11:30 - 11:45 Coffee break 11:45 - 13:00 Session IV / Quatrième Session: The Economic Dimension (cont.) The role of energy infrastructures for cooperation in the Mediterranean. The idea of a free trade agreement between the EU and Council for Cooperation in the Gulf (CCG) for liberalizing trade both ways and to reach comparable levels of opportunity to market access. The economic implications of a possible customs union between CCG countries by 2003. 13:00 - 13:30 Conclusions / Conclusions: Jordi Pujol, President, Genralitat de Cataloña, Barcelona Carlo Scognamiglio, Chairman, Aspen Institute Italia, Rome 13:30 Buffet lunch