Annual meeting of IPEMED Political Steering Committee

The annual meeting of IPEMED Political Steering Committee was held on 6th and 7th May 2015 in Paris. It gathered thirteen members, of which Chairman Miguel Angel Moratinos (Spain) and Vice-President Aicha Belarbi (Morocco).

On this occasion, two great topics were debated: - the Foundation “La Verticale Africa – Mediterranean – Europe” (AME) initiated by IPEMED; - the recast of the European Neighbourhood Policy following the consultation launched by the European Commission in March 2015.

This fist day ended with a debate-dinner at Hôtel de Lassay, hosted by Claude Bartolone, President of the French National Assembly, in the presence of 80 people (IPEMED founding members, political figures, business managers, experts, media from the great region). This year, the presence of Sub-Saharan political and economic decision makers gave a new tone to the debate, especially during their speeches, that encouraged IPEMED in its foundation project “La Verticale Africa – Mediterranean – Europe”.

On the following day, a lunch hosted by Xavier Beulin, President of FNSEA, AVRIL group and IPEMED Supervisory Committee enabled a successful exchange between political figures (members of PSC) and IPEMED founding members.

These two days were closed by a declaration in favour of the project “La Verticale AME”, a document co-signed by the Chairmen of the Supervisory Committee and of the Political Steering Committee: Xavier Beulin and Miguel-Moratinos, adding to the support letters of the Arab League, the African Union and the European Union.