National Counterpart Team Meeting 4

Location: Tunis, Tunisia Dates: 06-07 April 2006   Key documents: Agenda (FR 22Kb) List of participants (24Kb) Minutes of the Meeting (38Kb)

Summary:

The Euromed Transport Project Main Contract held the fourth meeting of the national counterpart teams in Tunis. The National Coordinators (NCs) of all 12 MEDA countries took part in this meeting, which set the stage for the establishment of the Regional Transport Action Plan (RTAP).

The event was attended by representatives of the European Commission (EuropeAid and DG TREN), as well as representatives of the European Investment Bank, the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the consultants in charge of the other ongoing regional MEDA transport projects, namely the Infrastructure Contract, the Motorways of the Sea (MOS) Contract and the Safemed Project.

The first day of the meeting enabled to inform the representatives on the follow-up of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Transport and to present an update on the status of the Main Contract and of the Infrastructure Contract and the projects’ training activities. This was followed by presentations on the various other related contracts and projects (MOS Contract, Safemed Project, GNSS Project, Aviation Project, etc.). A session also focused on issues relating to regional transport infrastructure as part of the RTAP (examining developments concerning the priority axes proposed by the High-Level Group).

The second day was devoted to presenting the first draft outline of the RTAP and discussing this document with the NCs to reach an agreement on the activities needed for completing it. The NCs welcomed the EC’s proposal to extend the RTAP through a political document that could evolve into a memorandum of understanding suitable for endorsement by decision-makers (and possibly even signature by the transport ministers).

The NCs also confirmed their wish to develop the RTAP as a stand-alone document, containing clear objectives and with regular updates, and aimed at defining concrete actions at the operational level (with budgets for implementation, schedules and assignments of responsibilities, and organisational recommendations), in line with the project’s terms of reference and with the work carried out under Module 9 of the Diagnostic Study and during previous NCT meetings.

Participants agreed that the project should conduct several preparatory actions in April-May 2006, including:

• drafting a paper to propose a set of methodology guidelines for preparing the RTAP;
• updating the information on ongoing or planned activities in MEDA countries relating to infrastructure and institutional/policy reform using a questionnaire to be sent to the NCs;
• defining a first set of actions based on the policy recommendations and strategic orientations of the Blue Paper and the High-Level Group report, also taking into consideration other project results (NCT 2 meeting and NC questionnaires);
• organising a series of coordination meetings with the NCs at the sub-regional level to gather feedback and discuss the methodology for prioritising the actions.

On this basis, the project consultants will then prepare a second draft of the RTAP which will be presented and discussed during a series of meetings due to be organised by the EC at the end of June 2006.

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Update and outlook on the Euro-Mediterranean transport cooperation with relevance for the preparation of the Regional Transport Action Plan (RTAP)

Conclusions of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Transport (812Kb)
Anna Panagopoulou, Administrator, European Commission DG TREN/A3

Update and outlook on the contracts of the regional Euro-Mediterranean transport project

The EuroMed GNSS Project and the Galileo EuroMed Cooperation Office, Aviation Project (289Kb)
Anna Panagopoulou, Administrator, European Commission DG TREN/A3

The Motorways of the Sea Contract: general overview and proposed work plan (2.1Mb)
Marc Abeille, EuroMed Transport Project MOS Contract
Summary (342Kb)

The Safemed Project: general overview and proposed work plan (80Kb)
Jonathan Pace, Prevention Programme Officer, REMPEC

State of Play of the Main Contract (2.5Mb)
Ralf Kaltheier, Project Director, Contract

Relaunch and Restructuring of the Website (740Kb)
Fadoua Ouerdiane, Information Management Specialist, Main Contract

State of Play of the Infrastructure Network Contract (3.25Mb)
Richard Timberlake, Project Director, Infrastructure Contract

The Mediterranean Transport Infrastructure Network as an integral part of the RTAP (MTIN Workshop)

High-Level Group Priority Axes and MTIN Identification (4.8Mb)
Richard Timberlake, Project Director, Infrastructure Contract

Feasibility Studies (695Kb)
Peter Watson, Transport Engineer/Economist, Infrastructure Contract

Example of Pre-feasibility Study: Mohammedia Container Terminal (1.4Mb)
Edward Bolger, Infrastructure Engineer, Infrastructure Contract

Example of Pre-feasibility Study: Damietta Rail Link (993Kb)
Peter Watson, Transport Engineer/Economist, Infrastructure Contract

Programme Outline / Training Proposals (372Kb)
Andy Costain, Training Coordinator, Infrastructure Contract