Eduardo González
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, yesterday received the baton of the annual Presidency of the 5+5 Defense Initiative, an informal meeting forum between countries of the Western Mediterranean made up of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia, France, Italy, Malta, Spain and Portugal.
Robles traveled to Lisbon yesterday to attend the Ministerial Meeting of the 5+5 Defense Initiative, which served to close the Portuguese Presidency and give way to the Spanish Presidency of this forum during the year 2024.
Present at the meeting were the Moroccan Minister of Defense, Abdellatif Loudiyi, and a representative of the Algerian Ministry of Defense (the head of this portfolio is the President of Algeria, Abdelmajid Tebboune). The two neighboring countries are going through a turbulent time in their relations and Spain has barely begun to overcome its diplomatic crisis with Algeria due to its change of position regarding Western Sahara, which allowed it to recover its relations with Rabat at the cost of its traditional friendship with Algiers.
The objective of the 5+5 Defense Initiative, established in 2004 at the proposal of France and within the scope of the 5+5 Dialogue – an informal forum of the countries of the region, active since 1990 -, is to develop multilateral cooperation in the Western Mediterranean in areas such as maritime security, aviation security, search and rescue at sea, support for civil authorities in disaster situations, training, research, special operations, cyber defense and humanitarian demining.
The minister, accompanied by the Secretary General of Defense Policy, Admiral Juan Francisco Martínez Núñez, highlighted the results achieved by this initiative, which serves as a bridge between countries and that, “from dialogue, respect and equality”, reinforces stability and the building of trust between “neighbors and friends.”
Likewise, Robles affirmed that, compared to other nearby regions that are experiencing “terrible situations”, the Western Mediterranean is today “a privileged scenario” in terms of peace and assured, after the ceremony of handover of the Presidency, that Spain assumes the challenges and pending challenges, betting on dialogue, “which is the key to resolving many conflicts and continuing to advance in something as important as the search for peace.”
Finally, the minister made reference to the twelve activities that Spain will organize during his Presidency, among which the execution of an important rescue and rescue exercise, led by the Air and Space Army, and another maritime security exercise led by the Navy.
