<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, chaired this Thursday the transfer to Tunisia of the Spanish presidency of the 5+5 Defense Initiative, a forum on security and military cooperation issues in the Western Mediterranean.</strong></h4> The 5+5 Defense Initiative was established in 2004, at the proposal of France and within the framework of the 5+5 Dialogue - an informal forum of the countries of the region, active since 1990 - with the aim of developing multilateral cooperation in the Western Mediterranean in areas such as maritime security, air security, search and rescue at sea, support to civil authorities in disaster situations, training, research, special operations, cyber defense and humanitarian demining. The forum is made up of ten countries: Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Mauritania, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia. Spain assumed the presidency, from Portugal, during a ministerial meeting held in Lisbon on December 13, 2023. According to the Ministry of Defense, Spain has organized, throughout this year, a total of twelve activities, including the high-level meetings of the Steering Committee (made up of the national delegations), the Chiefs of the Defense Staff, the Naval Group and the Pedagogical Committee, of which CESEDEN is a part, in the Spanish case. In addition, during the year a series of other activities have come to light, such as the execution of a rescue and salvage exercise at sea (CANASAR), led by the Air and Space Force, and another maritime security exercise led by the Navy (MARSEC). The balance sheet also includes the holding of a seminar on the health protection of the force in operations and a subsurface combat exercise. “In short, an intense year of work that, through this initiative, brings together efforts in our country's objective of defending peace, security and democratic values,” the Ministry said. “Twenty years after its launch, the 5+5 Initiative is consolidated and expanded year after year, thanks to the continuous military cooperation activities organized by all participating nations in areas such as maritime security, air security, search and rescue at sea, support for civil authorities in disaster situations, gender perspective, training, research, special operations, cyber defense, etc.,” it added. The ceremony to hand over the presidency took place on Thursday at the Headquarters of the Navy on the occasion of the twentieth ministerial meeting of this forum, which was attended by the Ministers of Defense and the heads of the delegations of Spain, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia, France, Italy, Malta and Portugal. During the event, Robles expressed her pride “in having served as president of the 5+5 Defense Forum this year”, a time in which “all the member countries of this initiative have demonstrated that it is possible to work for peace through dialogue and unity, being aware of the difficulty represented by the current geopolitical situation”. The minister also highlighted the work carried out throughout this year “to face challenges that are common to us in the western Mediterranean arc, such as the rise of terrorism or climate change”, all of them “issues in which our unity is our strength”. “We have managed to make our areas of influence freer and safer spaces and to advance towards the objective of modernity that we want to achieve and, for all this, multilateral cooperation is essential”, she added.
