The Paris summit brings together heads of state and government of all 27 EU nations and leaders from North Africa, the Middle East and the Western Balkans.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is the only leader who is boycotting the summit, while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan finally agreed to attend despite tension between Turkey and France over Paris' opposition to Turkey's EU membership.
The summit also brings together Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese President Michel Sleiman. Many of the leaders would sit at the same table for the first time in decades.
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France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (C) meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (R) as they arrive at the Elysee Palace, July 13, 2008. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) |
French President Nicolas Sarkozy had a series of bilateral meetings with key leaders on Saturday and Sunday to prepare for the summit. But no such meetings were scheduled between leaders of Israel and Syria, which have technically been at war since 1948.
"The purpose of the summit of the Union for the Mediterranean is that in the Mediterranean, around the Mediterranean, we learn to love each other rather than hate each other and make wars," Sarkozy told reporters after a meeting with Abbas and Olmert.
"The very fact that we are all going to be united in the same room, attending the same summit meeting, is historic," he said.
The Union for the Mediterranean was an idea championed by Sarkozy in his presidential campaign last year, inspired by the Barcelona Process created in 1995.
The union will hold one summit every two years. It will establish a co-presidency made up of an EU nation and a non-EU nation, and a permanent secretariat.
The union will concentrate on regional cooperation projects, including environmental protection in the Mediterranean, the development of solar energy and water management, solutions to increased natural hazards and infrastructure and transport deficits; economic and social development programs and higher education and research programs.
This year's summit will be co-chaired by Sarkozy and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
