Algeria decides to take part in UfM Barcelona conference marked by the presence of Israel

Algeria will finally take part in the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)'s Foreign Ministers’ Conference on Thursday in Barcelona, Spain, the ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday in a statement.

"Algeria, as a founding member of the Barcelona Process and the UfM, will seize this opportunity to call for promoting good neighbourly ties and shoring up regional cooperation to bring closer the peoples of the Mediterranean's two shores as well as to bolster their common security and address the outstanding economic challenges facing the entire region," the statement stressed.

The Algerian delegation will be led at the Barcelona conference by the secretary general of the ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Abdelhamid Senouci Bereksi.

As a matter of fact, Algeria’s participation in the meeting has been in serious doubt for some time now owing to the presence at the upcoming conference of Israel but Algeria as a founding member of the Barcelona process decided after all to send an official representative as duly confirmed Wednesday by Foreign ministry sources in Algiers.

The conference will be held on 26-27 November 2015 to mark the 20^th anniversary of the launch of the Barcelona Process, which has been the framework for an increased Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.

The broad-based meeting will also be an opportunity for the participants from 48 countries to examine the achievements and prospects of UfM, which took over from the Barcelona Process in July 2008, according to the foreign ministry statement.