Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 14: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the level of support pledged by the Government towards the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26920/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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At their sixth formal meeting in Naples on 2-3 December 2003, the Foreign Ministers of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, also referred to as the Barcelona process, formally agreed to the establishment of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures. This foundation is designed to promote cultural, educational and people to people exchanges between the countries of the European Union and the partner countries of the Mediterranean basin. Ireland was among the first of the Euro-Med partners to pledge support for the foundation, with a contribution of €100,000. This pledge was made as a demonstration of our commitment to, and interest in, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

During our EU Presidency, Ireland strove to secure the necessary agreement for the launch of the foundation. It was agreed at the mid-term Euro-Med Foreign Ministers meeting, held in Dublin on 5-6 May 2004, to locate the foundation in Alexandria in Egypt, where it will be housed jointly in the Alexandria Library and the Swedish Institute.

Ireland's special ambassador for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership during our EU Presidency, Ambassador John Campbell, assisted in the selection of the executive director of the EuroMed Foundation, Dr. Traugott Schoefter of Germany. More recently, the statutes of the foundation have been agreed between all partners and it was formally launched at a ceremony in Alexandria on 20 April 2005.

It is intended that the foundation will have links to national networks in each of the partner countries. My Department is now consulting a number of academic institutions with the aim of securing agreement on a national co-ordinator for the foundation and hopes that a decision will be taken shortly.