Libya joins the Anna Lindh Foundation on declared ‘Day of Independence’
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43 Country Meeting in Krakow celebrates the historic participation of Libyan civil society to the Euro-Mediterranean process
Krakow, 23 October 2011: The annual meeting of the Anna Lindh Foundation’s 43 Heads of National Network concluded today in Krakow, Poland, with the announcement that the newest Anna Lindh Network will be launched in Libya next month.
The focus of this year’s Annual Meeting and debate was on the response of the Foundation to the Arab revolutions and democratic reform processes in the Southern Mediterranean region, in particular how the Foundation’s region-wide Network of 3000 civil society organisations can contribute in new and emerging challenges in the region. The Meeting was also an occasion to invite for the very first time the participation of Libyan civil society, following the historic political and social changes.
Speaking at the closing plenary session, and on the declared day of ‘Libya Independence’, Ibrahim Al Ali Alklami, a Libyan lawyer and human activist, said: “Today, New Libya has arrived. We want to bring people to our new country and we want people in our country to have the opportunity to travel and exchange ideas and new possibilities. It is why the Anna Lindh Foundation is so important for us, to share through its Network practice on how to face new challenges, particularly with youth in our country who have been isolated for so many years by the previous regime.”
Following the intervention, which received a standing applause by all the representatives of the 43 National Civil Societies, the Foundation’s Secretariat announced that it had received the support of its Board of Governors to commence the process of establishing from this month a National Network in Libya.
It is the very first time Libyan civil society has been invited today to participate in the process of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation for the very first time since the birth of the partnership in 1995. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, re-launched in 2008 as the ‘Union for the Mediterranean’, is the far-reaching political partnership between the European Union and its Southern Mediterranean partners, including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
