France hosts Mediterranean Summit

13 July 2008

Paris-Leaders of EU and Mediterranean rim countries are gathering in Paris to launch a Union for the Mediterranean.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is hosting leaders from 42 nations, to discuss issues including regional unrest, immigration and pollution.

France says the new union could send a "wind of hope" through the region.

Progress has already been made. Sarkozy announced that Syria and Lebanon had agreed to resume diplomatic ties.

Lebanon and Syria broke off diplomatic ties after former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005.

Sarkozy held talks with Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman and then Syria's leader Bashar Assad and announced opening of embassies of Syria and Lebanon in Beirut and Damascus and hailed the moment as an "historic step forward."

Further Reading:
Sarkozy welcomes Assad in Paris