But almost 10 years on, seemingly little progress has been made. The southern and eastern Mediterranean rim has for the last decade been riven by political antagonisms. The 1995 Oslo agreement between Israel and the Occupied Territories, on which many of the hopes of the Barcelona architects rested, foundered. And recent events in Lebanon serve as a reminder, if one were needed, that polarised attitudes to Syria are still a source of friction between the two countries and within Lebanon itself.

There is no doubt that the Euro-Mediterranean area has great potential for development. Following the expansion of the EU to 25 members - including Cyprus and Malta - the partnership now comprises 35 members with a combined population of 720 million and gross domestic product (GDP) eight times that of China. And there is a growing feeling among supporters of the Euro-Med process that the time is ripe for accelerated integration.

In an effort to kickstart the process, business leaders from across the region met in Marseilles on 13-14 January for the inaugural Euro-Mediterranean Investment Summit, hoped to be the first of many regular meetings between industry, investment and finance professionals. While the failings of the last 10 years were acknowledged, the mood at the conference, organised by Economist Conferences, was upbeat. 'The beginning of the Barcelona Process was marked by an optimistic mood following the Oslo agreement,' Philippe de Fontaine Vive Curtaz, vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), told MEED. 'But we have more or less lost a decade. The region is still not sufficiently integrated - it is more of a mosaic than a region. But now, in 2005, there is a new spirit in the region, with the election of a new head of the Palestinian Authority and the more positive attitude of the Israelis.'

Optimism

This political optimism is underpinned by an accelerating rate of investment in the region, highlighted at the summit by the Agencies Network for Investment in the Mediterranean Area (ANIMA). Funded by the European Commission, the city of Marseilles and the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region, ANIMA was set up in March 2002 to foster links between the Mediterranean partners and promote foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Arab states covered by its MEDA financing programme. According to its figures, MEDA in 2004 attracted 400 investment projects, compared to 275 in 2003, representing a total capital injection of almost Eur 20,000 million ($26,640 million).

While recognising that the region has been slow out of the blocks, ANIMA has high hopes for the future. 'Most of the MEDA countries attracted less than $1,000 million in FDI between 1997-2003, which is ridiculous,' said ANIMA director Benedict de Saint-Laurent. 'We aim to triple FDI to the MEDA region by 2010, from the average Eur 10,000 million [$13,387 million] a year to Eur 30,000 million [$40,160 million], and increase the number of projects from 300 a year to 1,000.'

Beyond the resolution of persistent political issues, economic problems such as the lack of transparency and the shortcomings of financial infrastructure also need to be overcome before the region can realise its potential. 'There is a lack of transparency in the manageme