Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani will be in Split, Croatia, today to attend the “MED9” Ministerial Meeting, a forum established in 2016 to coordinate the actions of the southern member states of the European Union (Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia and Cyprus). The EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, will also take part in the proceedings.
The agenda for the meeting, organised by the Croatian Presidency, includes a working session dedicated to analysing the impact of the crisis in the Middle East on European energy security and the resilience of supply chains, with a particular focus on safeguarding maritime routes to the Mediterranean. This will be followed by a session dedicated to strengthening coordination within the MED9 group. At the end, the group will adopt a Joint Declaration.
In reaffirming the centrality of the Southern Neighbourhood in Italy’s foreign policy strategy, Minister Tajani will also emphasise in Split our country’s commitment to promoting de-escalation in the crisis areas of the wider Mediterranean, with specific reference to the Gulf, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Tajani will also highlight the need to diversify energy supply routes through strategic initiatives such as IMEC, an economic corridor aimed at securing trade flows between Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
