Background
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Senior Officials Meeting of 31 March 2015 in Brussels agreed to frame Energy cooperation at large of all the 43 UfM Members on the basis of this platform on gas, as well as on two other platforms (on electricity and on renewable energy and energy efficiency).
On 6 May 2015, in Rabat, EU Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete and the Moroccan Minister for Energy, Mr. Abdelkader Amara, unveiled three new Euro-Mediterranean platforms on gas, regional electricity market, and renewables and energy efficiency in the presence of the Presidents of OME, the Association of Mediterranean Energy Regulators (MEDREG), the Association of the Mediterranean Transmission System Operators (MED-TSO) and MEDGRID project.
On 11 June 2015, in Brussels, the UfM Gas Platform was officially announced and draft final Terms of Reference of the Platform was presented. The objective of the platform is to enhance the cooperation in the Euro-Med region between all stakeholders of the gas chain, and through a bottom-up approach to improve gas security by identifying barriers or opportunities.
The UfM Regional Electricity Market Platform (UfM REM Platform) and the UfM Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Platform (UfM REEE Platform) were officially launched on 12 October 2015 and 14 November 2016 respectively.
On 1 December 2016, in Rome, at the UfM Ministerial Meeting on Energy, the two-year work programmes of the three UfM Energy Platforms were endorsed. And Ministers in charge of energy called for a coherent regional and inclusive approach across the three platforms.