Presidency of
the group of Arab countries in the Barcelona Process
Since November 2001, Tunisia has presided the group of Arab
countries in the Barcelona Process, following the presidency
of Algeria, Lebanon and Syria. Tunisia has, in this regard,
been keen on holding consultations with other Arab countries,
in order to come up with a unified Arab position, to respond
to European positions and to participate in drafting documents
emanating from each meeting.
In April 2002, Tunisia organized a coordination meeting
bringing together the senior officials of the group of Arab
countries (This meeting was the first of its kind, as such
meetings were usually held in Brussels, the headquarters
of the European Commission, on the sidelines of the meetings
of the Euro-Mediterranean follow-up committee). This meeting
came up with an Pan-Arab document which was submitted to
Spain (then president of the European Union) and taken into
consideration in elaborating the final document and the
action plan emanating from the Valencia Ministerial conference.
Tunisia organized a second coordination meeting, in preparation
for the Euro-Mediterranean conference of Napoli.
