CIRSD President Vuk Jeremić today participated in an international conference in Paris on strengthening cooperation between states and international organizations in the Mediterranean region, held under the patronage of the President of France, Francois Hollande. The conference, entitled “Beyond Borders: Euro-Mediterranean Partnerships by Those Who Create Them”, is organized by the Union for the Mediterranean, the French Senate, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Forum for Peace. Conference participants include senior ministers from the Mediterranean region, high-level envoys of international organizations, and representatives of numerous private corporations. The French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, addressed the audience at the opening of the conference.
Jeremić served as the moderator of the conference’s central panel, entitled “Energy, Infrastructure, Entrepreneurship.” Participating panelists included esteemed policymakers and entrepreneurs such as the former Vice Prime Minister of Israel, Silvan Shalom, the Minister of Industry and Energy of Tunisia Kamel Ben Naceur, the former Vice Prime Minister of Jordan Sad Srour, the Director General of Edison Bruno Lescoeur, and the Director of the Department for International Cooperation in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of France, Philippe Lorec.
In his introductory remarks, Jeremić spoke of the negative effects of the Ukrainian crisis, and how these will affect the work of the Security Council and other problem solving capacities in the context of various pressing issues such as the ongoing Civil War in Syria, the nuclear capability of Iran and the Israel-Palestine peace process. He further noted that albeit Serbia remains a landlocked country, its geography provides it with an opportunity to assume a more assertive role in international trade and reaffirm its presence in the Mediterranean region.
