Mayors discuss EU-Mediterranean co-operation

More than 100 mayors from the wider area have been in Nicosia for the last two days to discuss improving co-operation between the EU and the rest of the Mediterranean region.

Tackling common challenges was also addressed during the 7th plenary session of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), hosted by Nicosia Municipality on Monday and Tuesday.

During the session, President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) Markku Markkula said that as European countries are emerging out of crisis the 20 countries bordering the Mediterranean account for 10 per cent of world GDP.

However, he noted that current cooperation is limited, with intra-Mediterranean trade accounting for less than one third of all trade Mediterranean countries engage in.

Another subject was migration in the region. The need to better integrate migrants and asylum seekers while promoting a better mobility policy was discussed.

Participants also underlined the local dimension of a Cyprus settlement, in fostering cooperation on the island.

Markkula encouraged leaders of the municipalities coming from the two communities of Cyprus to maintain their “endless efforts for dialogue and cooperation” as they had in the past.

He held as an example the bi-communal master plan of Nicosia, and welcomed the recent initiative for the Epiphany celebrations in Turkish occupied Famagusta, which he said constitutes an example of good will from the Turkish Cypriot side.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.