| Final Declaration
EUROMED CIVIL FORUM
Valencia, 12-13-14 April 2002
The Valldigna Forum for the Mediterranean held in Valencia on
18, 19, 20 April 2002 brought together 227 people from 41 civil
society organisations of 23 Mediterranean countries. The objective
of the conference was to delve into the major current problems in
the Mediterranean region, to study what structures and actions could
be used in resolving such problems, and to propose new and more
effective initiatives. Such initiatives are to be submitted to those
inter-governmental institutions concerned and to the Euro-Mediterranean
Conference, the European Union, and UNESCO.
Promoted and summoned by Generalitat Valenciana (Valencian autonomous
government) from a social and citizen perspective, the Valldigna
Forum is part of a sequence of actions hosted in Valencia which
started with the Civil Euromed Forum and will come to an end with
the Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Affairs Ministers on
22 and 23 April.
After asserting the claim for immediate peace in the region, the
delegates prepared a number of proposals aimed at consolidating
a common peaceful space for progress and economic stability on grounds
of equality for all Mediterranean peoples, cultural diversity, human
rights, and democracy.
A summary of the Forum’s main conclusions and proposals is
enclosed. Approved by a majority of delegates, these are some of
the most outstanding:
1. Creation of a Mediterranean market on the basis of harmonised
origin regulations and promotion of South-South integration.
2. Simplification of the MEDA programme and decentralised management
of grants.
3. Establishment of a Fund for sustainable development and solidarity
in the Mediterranean, after a private initiative and consisting
of private agents and territorial communities.
4. Creation of a Euro-Mediterranean industrial ecology network.
5. Consolidation of a large cultural entity in the Mediterranean
region taking into account the multiple structures and centres already
existing in different cultural sectors.
6. Launch of a programme on Euro-Mediterranean cities of culture
to designate a city from the northern and southern shore every year,
the objective being the promotion of globality and cultural diversity.
7. Promotion and defence of human rights and humanitarian principles
by building up a structure intended to complete actions already
taken by active organisations in this field.
8. Actions relative to the media. Particularly, a digital and printed
report should be circulated on the defence of the right to information
and freedom of speech in the region, and a Mediterranean multimedia
agency set up.
9. Creation of a Mediterranean museum partnership.
10. Setting up of a Watch Centre for the protection and promotion
of immaterial heritage in the Mediterranean in coordination with
UNESCO’s world heritage centre.
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