Cairo – By Dalia Attia:

The activities of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM) Forum and the Summit of Speakers of Parliaments have officially commenced at the Egyptian House of Representatives. NL NEWS is on the ground, covering this significant international gathering, which has drawn global participation focused on the agenda of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership.

The meeting of the PA-UfM represents a genuine opportunity to review the progress of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. It aims to evaluate past achievements while looking with realism and courage at the challenges facing the region. The forum emphasizes the Euro-Mediterranean area as a unified civilizational space with an interconnected and inseparable destiny.

As the Barcelona Process, around whose anniversary the world’s parliaments are gathering today at the Egyptian Parliament in Cairo, continues to mark a significant milestone, Counselor Dr. Hanafy El-Gebaly, Speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives, emphasized its strong impact on regional cooperation.

The Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament stated that the Barcelona Process represented a historic turning point and a cornerstone of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, placing it among the most important international models for achieving comprehensive regional cooperation.

The Euro-Mediterranean region faces numerous challenges, which Speaker Hanafy El-Gebaly described as unprecedented, including political instability, prolonged conflicts, and regional tensions that threaten the structure of collective security and cast serious shadows over the security and stability of the entire region.

Counselor Hanafy El-Gebaly said:
“There can be no sustainable stability without real economic growth that our peoples can truly feel. The Egyptian state has an ambitious vision for the Euro-Mediterranean region, centered on the urgent importance of strengthening trade and energy connectivity projects between the two shores of the Mediterranean, supporting the green transition, encouraging investment, and facilitating the transfer of technology and knowledge.”

He stressed that the Euro-Mediterranean partnership is not an option, but a strategic necessity imposed by geography, history, intertwined interests, and the voice of peoples aspiring to security, prosperity, and justice, adding:
“Egypt — both its leadership and parliament — will continue to support every effort that enhances regional cooperation and consolidates the values of peace, development, and solidarity.”

Egypt is leading peace efforts in the region through serious and effective international steps, the most recent of which was hosting the Sharm El-Sheikh International Peace Summit, attended by prominent world leaders. This summit served as a foundation and a roadmap for endorsing and achieving a just and lasting peace throughout the Middle East.