The Egyptian diplomat, Nasser Kamel, Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, has inaugurated the international relations club of the Cercle del Liceu, recalling the need, today more than ever, for an organization that is the daughter of the Barcelona Process, the diplomatic initiative of 1995 to unite the two shores of the Mediterranean, Europe with North Africa and the Middle East, as well as Israel with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab peoples.
Nasser Kamel recognized the difficulty of promoting peace, security, cooperation and cultural exchanges in one of the most troubled regions in the world. These are precisely the objectives that the Union for the Mediterranean set for itself when it was established in Barcelona in 2008.
Kamel insisted on the need to deepen cooperation between the two shores of the Mediterranean for the sake of mutual benefit.
Despite the work carried out over these years, the challenges remain enormous in areas as important as trade, mobility, immigration, women's rights and the climate crisis.
Kamel recalled that the Mediterranean region is warming 20% faster than the rest of the planet and that the effects of this transformation need urgent attention.
The recipe of Kamel, a veteran diplomat with more than 30 years of service in Mediterranean capitals, both in the north and in the south, is the most pragmatic of all: "isolate what divides us and deepen what unites us".
