Division 9

The activities undertaken at bilateral and regional level are to be complementary and/or mutually reinforcing to enable the political and economic impact of the MEDA programme to be sustained and the objectives jointly adopted in the Barcelona Declaration more effectively reached. Drawing from its own experience, it is the Union's view that the future prosperity and stability of its partners rest on increased cooperation between themselves in the economic, social and political spheres. The elimination of barriers will foster economies of scale and greater market opportunities thus encouraging investment, facilitating the exchange of ideas and increasing mutual understanding. The regional indicative programme will reflect the progress made in the framework of the Barcelona process in taking action at a multilateral level on issues of common concern, as laid down in the agreed declaration, and will strengthen the activities in support of decentralized cooperation. However, regional activities will not displace funding of bilateral activities. Each indicative bilateral programme will include information on all activities, financed under any Community regional cooperation programme which affects or will affect that particular partner country.