ACTIVITIES :: International Relations :: Dialogue Coop :: Union for the Mediterranean
Euromed - Information Society
Euromed Policy Framework
EUROMED Ministerial Conference on Information Society - February 26-27 2008 - Cairo, Egypt
The Ministerial Conference on the Information Society took place in Cairo on 27 February 2008.
It was the second Ministerial EUROMED Conference
after the Conference organised in Dundalk Ireland in April 2005
(see also the related
final
declaration 
).
A preparatory meeting at Senior Official level took place on 25 October 2007 in Brussels and the day before the Conference during which the agenda and the final declaration were finalised.
The Conference addressed the following topics:
Video message from Commissioner Reding on the Euromed conference
- The future of the Euromed cooperation in the area of Information Society, including the dynamics of growth, investments, skills and societal impact.
- The main issues of the EUROMED cooperation:
- regulatory reform (future of the regional project NATP II, bilateral consultancy projects and twining with EU Member States' regulators, Euromed networks of regulators)
- Euromed research communities' networking (future of EUMEDIS and of the EUMEDCONNECT platforms of e-services)
- Participation in the ICT part of FP7 and in other related programmes.
- Improvement of the cooperation scheme and of information sharing: working groups, web portals, exchanges of best practices, researchers and students.
In collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology
The way forward
In the light of the CAIRO Ministerial Declaration a new step for the EUROMED dialogue on issues related to the Information Society will now be launched.
Therefore, in the light of the Barcelona Process and the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI 2007-2013), Ministers agreed to intensify the cooperation in the field of regulatory framework for electronic communications, the connectivity of networks and of platforms of services, ICT Research in areas such as multilingual e-content, e-learning, e-science, e-health, e-inclusion and e-government.
It was also decided that a Euromed Ministerial Conference on the Information Society will be held bi-annually. A specific Action Plan will be prepared in order to be approved at the next meeting of the Euromed Forum of Senior Officials to be organized in Brussels before the end of 2008.
Barcelona process: Union for the Mediterranean
Along with the policies undertaken under the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the European Neighbourhood Policy, the preparation of the Union for the Mediterranean was the occasion to explore a few areas of priorities for initiatives and projects in the ICT field which could complement and be transversal with other policies, such as civil protection, security, transports, sustainable development, etc.
For the ICT Field, among concrete projects to be identified, initiatives such as a network of Euro-Mediterranean hospitals were mentioned. In addition, the Malaga Conference, to be held on 19 September 2008, would be able to pave the way for an improved on-line cooperation between cities of the region to cover issues such as sustainable development and innovation.
Intelligent telecentres and networks of company hotels might also be created along the Mediterranean shores, along with a centre for computer recycling and another one for computer dismemberment. The Paris Summit of 13 July 2008 will approve the institutional framework, the process to be followed and a few major projects to be initiated under the Barcelona process: Union for the Mediterranean.
EMERG
Euro-Mediterranean network of Regulators
Following the ideals and principles of the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation set out in the Barcelona Declaration, as further elaborated in the second Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on the Information Society held in Cairo in February 2008, electronic communications regulatory authorities in the Euro-Mediterranean region have joined forces to strengthen their cooperation and set up a network that aims to facilitate the sharing of experiences and the organisation of neighbourly cooperation: the Euro-Mediterranean network of Regulators (EMERG). EMERG Launch Declaration Final with list of signatories.
EUMEDCONNECT
Eumedconnect :
first step for a "Mediterranean Network Association"
Rome Declaration, September 2006.
Last update: 04/04/2011 | Top