The foreign ministers of Spain, France, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan met on Tuesday behind closed doors to try and get the bogged-down Mediterranean Union back on track.

The agenda of the meeting and of the dinner afterwards was to seek a consensus on the election of a secretary general with a view to holding the union’s second summit, scheduled for June 7 in Barcelona, officials close to the Spanish delegation told Efe.

Taking part in the talks were Spain’s Miguel Angel Moratinos, Bernard Kouchner of France, Ahmed Abul Gheit of Egypt, Jordan’s Naser Yoda and Tunisian Foreign Minister Abdelwahab Abdallah.

An opportunity was provided for taking photos but the program did not include a press conference to reveal what had been discussed.

This is Moratinos’ first visit to the region since Spain assumed the six-month presidency of the European Union on Jan. 1, during which time the minister plans to give a more importance to the currently lifeless Mediterranean Union, the brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

This forum – through which more than 40 Mediterranean countries seek to establish closer ties – has been at a standstill because of Israel’s military offensive against Gaza in December 2008.

The union, which was launched in Paris on July 13, 2008, resumed its high-level meetings last July with a meeting in Brussels of the ministers of economy and finances, who analyzed how the economic crisis was affecting the countries on the northern and southern Mediterranean coasts, and what measures should be taken to deal with it.

Tuesday’s meeting coincided with an increase in diplomatic activity in the region, precisely in order to try and reactivate relations between Arabs and Israelis. EFE

via Latin American Herald Tribune – Spain, France, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan Promote Mediterranean Union.