Foreign Minister Tuomioja met Egypt's President Mubarak
3 April, 2005
Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja met with President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday, 3 April, while visiting Egypt. Their discussions focused on the current situation in the Middle East, globalisation and the situation in Darfur.
Later on Sunday Tuomioja addressed the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs on the partnership between Europe and the Middle East.
In his address Tuomioja emphasised the significance of the European Union's decade-long Barcelona Process in the relations between the partnership countries in Europe and the Middle East. The process should also in future focus on promoting peace and stability, he said, but we must also ask ourselves what the partnership can do to respond to the concerns of the people and how can we more successfully tackle issues such as education, employment, and the rights of migrants.
The EU is prepared to continue its support for the political, economic and social reforms in the Arab countries, said Tuomioja, for which the EU's Strategic Partnership with the Mediterranean and the Middle East, which was adopted by the European Council last June, offers excellent tools. The partnership must, however, be voluntary. Enhancing the participation of women in economic and political life should, of course, be high on any reform agenda, said Tuomioja.
Tuomioja also commented on the current issues of the peace process between the Israeli and the Palestinians as well as on Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.
Tuomioja was also scheduled to meet with Egypt's Foreign Minister Abul Gheit. From Egypt he will travel to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.
Further information: Counsellor Jarno Syrjälä, Unit for the Middle East and North Africa, gsm +358 40 836 0594
Foreign Minister Tuomioja's speeech (full text)