Leaders and representatives from 43 nations were set to meet later Sunday in Paris to launch the Union for the Mediterranean, an ambitious project intended to deepen relations between the EU and countries along the Mediterranean Basin.
Conceived as well to be a mechanism to ease political tensions in the region, the union scored its first success on Saturday when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Suleiman, met in Paris and announced that their two countries intended to normalize relations.
A pet project of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's, it is unclear whether Assad and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will take advantage of the situation to shake hands and discuss peace talks one on one, or whether they will sit across the table from each other and ignore the opportunity presented to them.
Sarkozy is scheduled to hold talks with the Israeli Prime Minister and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. A joint statement will be issued after the meeting.
The launch of the Mediterranean Union is expected to be accompanied by the announcement of several specific projects, such as a belt of solar power plants around the Mediterranean, the harmonization of seaway controls, a program to help cope with natural disasters and the creation of an agency to promote medium- sized businesses. 07/13/08
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