5 + 5 dialogue
The 5 + 5 dialogue is an informal series of annual intergovernmental conferences between the countries bordering the western Mediterranean . Since 1990 there are five states on the north side of it
and five states of the south side of the Mediterranean
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Morocco , Algeria , Tunisia , Libya and Mauritania united.
Since 1990 seven conferences of the 5 + 5 dialogue have taken place, between 1992 and 2000 it was interrupted due to the international sanctions against Libya. The conference planned for December 2006 in Morocco was finally canceled.
The conferences are organized annually by a different partner country and generally take place at Foreign Minister level . Only one conference in Tunisia in December 2003 was held at the level of the heads of state and government of the participating states.
Over time, the 5 + 5 dialogue began to organize conferences of ministers from other business areas with the aim of providing informal and flexible impetus for international cooperation. Since 1995 there have been regular conferences of interior ministers, since 2002 conferences of the ministers responsible for migration, since 2003 meetings of the parliaments of the participating states, since 2004 conferences of the defense ministers, since 2006 the ministers responsible for tourism and since 2007 the transport ministers.
The 5 + 5 dialogue is one of the oldest and least formalized elements of European-North African cooperation. Since 1994 there has also been an informal Mediterranean Forum , which does not include Mauritania and Libya, but also the eastern Mediterranean countries of Greece , Turkey and Egypt . In 1995 the EU's relations with all Mediterranean countries (except Libya) were organized in the Euro-Meditarranean partnership , which was transferred to the Union for the Mediterranean in 2008 . Since 2004, these states have also been integrated into the European Neighborhood Policy .