EU calls for quick start to talks with Libya

The European Union called on Monday for a quick start to talks with Libya, once shunned by the West as a pariah state, on a cooperation agreement covering a wide area from trade to migration.

EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg that the EU executive planned to send an exploratory mission to the energy-rich North African state "very soon".

"The EU and Libya should as soon as possible open discussions on an EU-Libya framework agreement which will include areas of mutual interest such as human rights, migration, among others," the ministers said in a statement.

EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini told Reuters on Wednesday cooperation on energy, promoting tourism and archaeological sites would be part of the talks. He said the EU hoped Libya would participate in EU sea patrols aimed at stopping migrants from reaching the bloc and said it could help Libyans patrol their southern borders by providing equipment like providing cars and binoculars.

World Press Photo

Arturo Rodriguez

MEDSTAT II meeting

General Directors of the Mediterranean Partner Countries' National Statistics Institutes were in Brussels on September 6-7, 2007 at the invitation of EuropeAid and Eurostat for the first Partnership Group Meeting organised within the framework of the MEDSTAT II regional programme.

The aim of the meeting was to bring together all those involved in the project for a frank discussion about the results achieved so far and future challenges, as well as to start a dialogue on future statistical cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Euro-Mediterranean statistical cooperation began in 1996 through the regional programme MEDSTAT. Ten years later (January 2006), MEDSTAT II, a three-year, €30 million programme, was launched with ten partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey). It deals with statistics in nine thematic sectors (Trade, National Accounts, Social Statistics, Energy, Agriculture, Environment, Tourism, transport and Migration) and three horizontal sectors (Training, Information System and Dissemination). The programme’s main objective is to strengthen the capacity of the partner countries’ National Statistics Institutes and each country’s own National Statistical System.