Under the Mediterranean Sun

Surveying inter-Mediterranean countries ties, one can but mention the Barcelona Conference held in November 1995 (the Mediterranean Sea Forum).

As a matter of fact, it is an appropriate formula to launch close regional cooperation among all on-shore countries. As France, Italy and Spain are on the northern shore; Egypt, libya, Algeria,Tunisia, and Morocco on the southern coast, while Syria and Lebanon look out eastern shore, and the south coast Israel. Therefore, series of interactions among those countries is a must to maintain common interests in such temperate climate.

Components & motivations
The forum components & motivations are hereby detailed as:-
a- the Mediterranean entities and blocs:
1- It has neighbouring countries within solidarity-bound groups.
2- Such an area is of interaction between regional and international variables, forming a geopolitical unit.
b- Forum motivations:
1- Intra-regional solidarity
2- Inter-regional solidarity
Courses to realize such cooperation that can be relied upon are a series of bilateral trade agreements, along with grants and aids concluded among EU and countries on the southern shore of Mediterranean. These agreements aim at re-balancing economic relations.

Arab-European dialogue
As Algeria conference held on November 11, 1973, was the spring-board to establish a dialogue and cooperation between Arab States and EU, it also incarnated form of international cooperation based on entire understanding for each side's attitudes and problems paving the way to figure out common grounds to solve such problems in tranquillity and peace.

The 1993 Madrid Arab-Israeli negotiations also were actual translation of inter-regional cooperation.

The Arab-European dialogue, since its beginning in 1973 has got many positive aspects in the domains of political, economic and social cooperation.

The most prominent challenge to such dialogue is that it is being established between two international groups of imbalanced political, economic and social powers. Arabs wish to maintain both political and economic relations balanced.

Europe, however, highlights the economic issues only. Besides, EU countries have different viewpoints and attitudes towards the Arab issues and some international parties have essentially opposed the Arab-European dialogue.

The Arab-European dialogue phases are; the first from 1973 to 1979 and it was a scene to an active action and Arab-European propelling to the march of cooperation thanks mainly to the Arab solidarity. The second phase, 1979\92, has witnessed many changes on the Arab arena. So the European side has retreated.

Challenges to the European Mediterranean dialogue are of two aspects:
1- Human that were materialized in both demographic burden and immigration.
2- Security which is very important in regional stability.

Egyptian initiative
President Mubarak - in his keynote speech delivered before the European Parliament on November 20, 1991 - made an initiative to form such forum and to have it expand to comprise all European countries along with the Middle East States.

Accepting the idea of the forum was thanks to the well-prepared speech, as deliberations have resulted in holding a number of foreign ministers meetings. Alexandria was selected to be venue to one such conference on July 2, 1994, including Foreign Ministers of France, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Greece and Portugal, under the Chairmanship of the Egyptian Foreign Minister.

This meeting was so important for it was the first meeting to lay down the foundations of such forum.

It made the best selection of "atom group" who have exchanged their viewpoints freely away from the complicated procedures.

Common interests and development of inter-civilization dialogue were the core and crux of these discussions.

The Alexandria meeting changed the forum from theoretical to practical within the framework of cooperation to realize the regional stability.

Barcelona conference
Date: November 27, 1995.
Scene: Barcelona, the Spanish Capital.
Participants: The 15-EU foreign ministers along with 12 Mediterranean States, 9 of which Arab - Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine and Mauritania - in addition to Turkey, Israel, Malta, and Cyprus.

Arab League Secretary General and the Arab Maghreb Union representatives attended as guests, and ambassadors of USA, Russia, Saudi Arabia with many others were there as well.

The main objective of this conference, however, was to create a common cultural and economic partnership within a new framework of relations between the Mediterranean countries and the EU, along with establishing a new area enjoying peace and stability away from disorders. What a great end.

The issues tabled for discussion were the main concern of the two parties, still little differences over the priority to be given to each emerged.

New order
To realize new order of cooperation in the Middle East, the US orientation, however, has targeted 5 objectives which are:
1- Establishing a bank to develop the Middle East and North Africa.
2- Backing up a number of political and economic freedoms such as: the freedom of transfer of capitals and commodities, protecting intellectual rights and lifting different forms of economic boycott between Arabs and Israel.
3- Setting up regional tourism authority.
4- Creating a regional businessmen council.
5- Convening periodical conferences to follow up what has been implemented within the context of regional economic cooperation and integration among Middle East states.

Amr Moussa, the Egyptian delegation head, has confirmed while addressing the conference that EU partnership initiative is in line with Mediterranean aspirations expressed by Egypt in her proposal to hold Mediterranean forum. He described that conference as civilization rendezvous.

It was also decided to hold the next meeting after two years.
Participants have committed to further cooperation against terrorism and to prevent it by all necessary means. Also to eliminate organized crime and fight drugs, besides taking positive steps vis-a-vis the prevention of both chemical and nuclear weapons, in addition to arms regulation and disarmament agreements.

They also agreed to establish a free trade zone, with a view to enhancing economic cooperation, and to work, hand in hand, to face immigration problems.

Egypt & EC
Several agreements have been reached between Egypt and the EC. This could be mainly ascribed to the pivotal and key role assumed by Egypt over the past decades to ensure maintaining peace and stability in the region.

Out of the conviction of the EC that Egypt is irreplaceable in the region, great number of agreements were concluded to promote and help the most active party seeking peace and stability. As development issues were tackled, environmental questions were touched on. One of the most important needs to be addressed was the trade relations and their direct impact on the stability of the region through creating a friendly climate that would further interactions among the Mediterranean countries.

Moreover, industrial cooperation at all level is a good step towards achieving development and prosperity.

Many viable issues were addressed in this conference such as foreign investment and technology transfer which is considered one of the main pillars of any strong economy.

Analytical study
Obviously, such Mediterranean cooperation is highly vital to empower the entire region required facilities that would create a favourable climate before effective integration and cooperation.

As the expedient interaction would bridge the widening gap between northern and southern countries on the Mediterranean, farsighted-outlook is being offered to realize hoped-for ends.

The proposed cooperation formula, however, should contain all countries that are on the Mediterranean to come up with such harmonized area without giving priority to any country at the expense of another.

This formula must be panoramic to cover all aspects of interaction and cooperation. in other words, expanding cooperation on the political, economic, social, cultural levels is quite related to the way via which the inter-Mediterranean cooperation should be tailored. Out of this conviction, all parties concerned have to show concrete and earnest desire to attain all-out and stable development and to take positive steps with a view to visualising a collective attitude while establishing free dialogue. Mediterranean countries should be full aware and quite alive that there is no quick nor easy way to liberalize their economies, rather relentless efforts must be exerted to overcome the looming challenges.

In the last years, one has witnessed how European political and economic priorities were focused primarily on the east, due to the full awareness of the importance of active interaction.

Stability in Europe can't be disassociated from stability in the Mediterranean. The processes must be parallel and complementary.

This idea should be at the very forefront and should be the guideline for the entire process. Bilateral and multilateral dialogue on defense and security issues is a basic stabilizing instrument to realize an effective and productive economic and political cooperation.

We all share this Mediterranean Sea. But we must be able to preserve and protect this valuable heritage, to keep it secure and make it prosperous. This can only be a collective achievement, for it is true that no country can enjoy lasting development and security at the expense of another country's security.

Climate
The Mediterranean weather is characterized by windy, mild, wet winters and relatively calm, hot, dry summers. Spring, however, is a transitional season and is changeable. Autumn is relatively short.

The amount and distribution of rainfall in the Mediterranean cannot be generalized. Along the North African coast from Qabis (Gabes) in Tunisia to the Arab Republic of Egypt, more than 10 inches (250 millimeters) of rainfall per year is rare, whereas, on the Dalmatian coast of former Yugoslavia, there are places with 100 inches.

Fauna & flora
Marine and plant life. Because the primary productivity of life forms depends to a large extent on the concentration of the plant nutrient salts, it is, as would be expected, generally low in the Mediterranean Sea. The effective potential productivity in various regions of the Mediterranean as measured by radioactive methods varies from five to 150 mg C/m3 per 24 hours.

The highest primary production values in the Mediterranean Sea have been observed in springtime (March-May) off the Egyptian coast in areas under the influence of the Nile. There primary production values are as high as 700 mg C/m3 per 24 hours.

The environmental conditions of the Mediterranean already described, namely, the low concentration of phosphates and nitrates so necessary for the maintenance of marine pastures, together with the poor standing crop of bottom-dwelling organisms, provide no opportunity for the evolution of a big fishing industry. The general lack of large concentrations of fish has prevented the development of large-scale operations, the high prices of fresh fish in most Mediterranean countries have favoured the development of a large number of small-scale fisheries. The fish fauna of the Mediterranean is basically related to fauna of subtropical Atlantic with a large variety of species.

About half of the Mediterranean catches are of pelagic species (those caught in the upper layers of the sea). Sardines constitute the main catch in the western and northeastern parts of the Mediterranean. Occasionally sardines also appear in relatively small quantities in the southeastern part of the Mediterranean. Closely related fishes occur in considerable quantities in the southern and southeastern region of the Mediterranean. The sprat is taken in some quantities in the most northern Adriatic. It also occurs in commercial quantities in the Black Sea. Anchovy is important in most of the regions of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Of the really large fish there is one of great commercial value, the blue fin tuna that moves into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic and disperses in several directions, toward the southern and eastern coasts of Spain, coasts of the Balearic Islands, northern coast of Morocco, and the coasts of Sardinia, Sicily, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Of the non-edible products of the Mediterranean, the most important are the corals of Naples and the sponges of the Dodecanese, the Gulf of Gabes, and western coasts of Egypt.

The natural vegetations of the lands bordering the Mediterranean can be classified into six general types, one of which is the typical Mediterranean forest.

The olive tree provides a satisfactory criterion for the distribution of Mediterranean climate. The holm oak and the cork oak provide a better criterion. They tolerate low rainfall and a few months of drought.

The conifers, especially the domestic pine, maritime pine and Aleppo pine are the remnants of the typical Mediterranean forests that suffered from extensive destruction by man. A characteristic feature of the landscape is provided by evergreen shrubs with hard, leathery leaves, which has widely replaced the conifers. especially where the soil is limey.

Another type of natural vegetation is the mixed green and deciduous forest. It is made up of species adapted to short periods of drought and to cool winters, hence the presence of evergreens and also the deciduous oak.

A third type is the deciduous forest. The beech follows the chestnut in altitude. Other vegetation types are the high coniferous zone, widespread throughout the mountains of central Europe, high pastures and arid zone.

Many plants have been introduced and cultivated in the Mediterranean lands by the Arabs and Spaniards. The more successful introductions include rice, cotton, oranges, sugar-cane, corn (maize), tobacco, potatoes.

History
The 2,000-mile access that the Mediterranean offers in the temperate zone to rain-bearing westerly winds; ease of communications across western, central and eastern straits; and its prevailing freedom from storms in the summer months: all these made it the "inland sea" of early civilizations. The revolutionary development of a higher civilization based on agriculture evidently originated in the lands beyond the eastern Mediterranean, but that sheltered sea favoured its westward diffusion.

By 300 BC the eastern Mediterranean basin belonged to the Greek kingdoms of Alexander the Great's successors; and in the following two centuries the expanding Roman Republic annexed the Carthaginian Empire and began the absorption of the Greek world. When the Christian era opened, the entire Mediterranean basin as far south as the Sahara was for the first time politically and economically unified.

By 400 AD , however, the Germanic vanguard of migrations that had pushed forward from central Asia was breaking down the northern defenses of the Roman Empire. While its western half collapsed, the Byzantine Empire survived; but Levantine separatists found expression in the eastern churches and welcomed the 7th century Muslim Arabs as liberators. The Arabs rapidly advanced through north Africa (whose economic ruin was effected by a later wave of Bedouin invaders), conquered Spain and Sicily, and harassed Italy and Provence.

Although the Mediterranean basin was thus unequally partitioned between a Christian north and a Muslim south, common economic interests reasserted themselves, notably through Jewish intermediaries. By the 11th century the Arab Empire was lapsing into disorder, and the Christian conquest of Spain and Sicily began. The Crusades were ostensibly designed to win safe access to the Christian holy places, but also offered estates to landless younger sons and commerce to the Mediterranean trading cities, notably Venice, Genoa, and Barcelona. The Crusades failed militarily after two centuries of struggle, and the widening of cultural horizons heralded both humanist renaissance and the religious reformation.

Until the 15th century, Constantinople, Barcelona, and the Italian commercial states assumed the role of intermediaries between the Orient and northwestern Europe. In the 15th century, however, the rise of the Ottoman Turks brought a second period of eclipse in the Mediterranean, as well as an era of severe rivalries.

Moreover, the discovery of the route to Asia around the Cape of Good Hope at the end of the 15th century created a safer and easier sea route connecting northwestern Europe directly with the Orient.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, together with the advent of the steam ship, continued industrialization in northwestern and central Europe, and French colonization in north Africa made the Mediterranean again one of the busiest sea lanes of the world. Much of the traffic, however, passed through the sea en route between Asia and northwestern Europe.

Countries in the Mediterranean basin had not been able to industrialize and had retained their agricultural and artisan economies, which limited their purchasing power and reduced their ability to trade.

Nevertheless, a fierce competition ensued among ports in northwestern Europe and Mediterranean Europe, a rivalry that has continued to this day.

From the 18th century until World War II, the Mediterranean was dominated by Great Britain which had gradually acquired control over several strategic points along the sea route so vital to its empire trade.

The Suez Canal was closed to all traffic from 1967 to 1975 as a result of the continuing conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Britain lost its supremacy in the Mediterranean, and a new era began with U.S. entry into north Africa in 1942 during World War II. After the war it became apparent that only the United States was strong enough to oppose the Soviet Union, which made repeated attempts to expand into the Mediterranean sphere economically and politically.

Mediterranean Sea was scarcely put under any thorough modern study until a Danish expedition undertook such task in 1908/10 and with perfect objectives made great findings.