7.1 supports the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership’s ambition progressively to establish a free trade area between the European Union and numerous Mediterranean Association (MEDA) countries by the year 2010 - an arrangement which it sees as an important means for economic development, political stability and reduced migratory pressure in the region;
7.2 welcomes the negotiations for free trade agreements now underway between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and numerous non-European Mediterranean countries, considering them as important instruments for developing the region and its economic links with Europe;
7.3 expresses satisfaction at the holding of conferences for Mediterranean regions organised by its Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities and in particular the successful outcome of the most recent one held in Marmaris (Turkey) from 25 to 27 February 1999 which encompassed for the first time the Black Sea basin. It is convinced that the continuation of such inter-parliamentary co-operation within the Parliamentary Assembly, can only contribute further to the economic development of the region;
7.4 also welcomes the organisation, by its Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, of the Mediterranean Agriculture Forums in co-operation with the Mediterranean Committee of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, the most recent of which took place in Cyprus from 26 to 27 October 1998 and was also attended by parliamentarians from Mediterranean states not belonging to the Council of Europe;
7.5 encourages the Council of Europe’s Lisbon-based Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity ("North-South Centre") to further expand its trans-Mediterranean activities aimed at furthering understanding among all the countries around that sea, and calls on all Council of Europe member states, whether members of the Centre or not, to join in these activities;
7.6 actively supports the Conferences on Security and Co-operation in the Mediterranean (CSCM) organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and will examine with the IPU the possibilities of closer co-operation in this process;
7.7 supports agricultural organisations such as the International Federation of Agricultural Producers and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies and encourages them to continue their work of co-operation aimed at co-ordinating the Mediterranean countries’ agricultural policies, balancing agri-food production and trade, modernising agricultural structures, furthering rural development and developing agricultural research and training in the region;
7.8 calls on the European Union and EU member states, as well as the European Investment Bank, to expand their Euro-Mediterranean Partnership activities related to economic and financial co-operation, and in particular the resources devoted to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and of links between companies and branch organisations in different Mediterranean countries and also to intensify and redress the balance of trade in agri-food products;
7.9 encourages regular contacts between its committees and representatives of corresponding parliamentary committees in the countries of the Mediterranean basin concerning the issues which could result in concrete co-operation;
7.10 in this context, supports the Euro-Mediterranean initiatives launched by the Italian Parliament and the European Parliament, which represent the European Union’s inter-parliamentary activities within the Barcelona process and which help increase the participation of countries concerned in this co-operation.
