To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean Process. [17083]

The United Kingdom is committed to the Euro-Mediterranean Process, which provides for economic, political and social co-operation with the 12 Mediterranean partners. We support progress towards a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area by 2010: the new wave of Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements are the first step towards this goal. The Euro-Med partnership will be an important part of our EU Presidency: we hope to host a Euro-Med Capital Markets Conference in London in March, and a seminar on the human dimension of the partnership in May. We are discussing with EU partners the idea of holding a meeting of Foreign Ministers to give impetus to the relationship.