Prospects to boost bilateral relations, the development of relations between Tunisia and the European Union (EU), the reinforcement of the 5+5 dialogue and Euro-Mediterranean relations were the focus of a working session held Monday in Tunis under chairmanship of Foreign Minister Kamel Morjane and his Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado.
The FM hailed the excellent friendship and co-operation relations binding Tunisia and Portugal, stressing the need to hoist them to the level of a privileged partnership in accordance with President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's recommendations.
While praising the regular consultations between the two countries' high officials and the convergence of their views on several mutual interest issues, Mr. Kamel Morjane pointed up that the Portuguese FM's visit to Tunisia came at the right moment insofar as it would contribute to preparing, to the best, for the 2nd high-level meeting scheduled in Tunis during the current month.
In this regard, the FM shed light on opportunities to boost economic co-operation on the basis of the two countries' potentials in growth and innovative sectors, such as investments, trade, tourism and higher education. He also said that relations with the EU are of strategic order for Tunisia and it is essential to give them a stronger boost.
Besides, Mr. Morjane laid emphasis on the importance of the 5+5 dialogue in reinforcing Euro-Mediterranean exchanges and setting up an interdependent and balanced partnership between the two shores of the Mediterranean.
For his part, Portugal's FM highlighted the quality of relations between Lisbon and Tunis, notably at the political, diplomatic and economic levels.
"The next high-level meeting during which several Tunisian-Portuguese co-operation agreements are expected to be signed will materialize the strategic nature of these relations and allow reviving the process of rapprochement of two countries sharing numerous mutual interests," he said. He reckoned that Tunisia represents for Portugal a foothold in its will to deepen its relations with the Arab world, Africa and the Mediterranean basin .
"Tunisia and Portugal, he added, have the capacity to be vehicles of growth and stability for all these regions." The Portuguese FM expressed as well his country's support to Tunisia's efforts to establish a strong and preferential relationship with the EU. "It is in the interest of Europe, he noted, to act for a better integration of the southern shore of the Mediterranean into the European economy."
He also highlighted the leading role Tunisia is assuming in boosting the 5+5 dialogue, noting that the latter should be conceived as being the hard core of an exemplary Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. "In effect, he explained," as member of the Arab League, the Arab Maghreb Union and the African Union, Tunisia stands as an important partner for Portugal, just as UE member Portugal is important for Tunisia."
Finally, he declared that the meeting had confirmed the convergent views of Tunisia and Portugal at strategic, political and economic levels, stressing the need for the two countries "to make good use of their similarities."
© Agence Tunis Afrique Presse 2010
