On 14 and 15 March, Portugal hosted the 36th meeting of the Steering Committee of the 5+5 Defence Initiative in Fort São Julião da Barra.

This high-level event brought together the Defence Policy Directors (or equivalent) from Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia.  The Portuguese delegation was led by the Coordinator of the Portuguese Presidency of the Initiative, Lieutenant General Hermínio Maio, accompanied by the Director of International Relations Services of the Portuguese National Defence Policy Directorate, Elisabete Gomes.

During the event, participants reviewed the results of meetings in the scope of the Pedagogical Committee of the 5+5 Defence College, the Euro-Maghreb Centre for Strategic Researches and Studies (CEMRES), among others, and presented proposals for new projects on relevant topics, such as the fight against terrorism.  The action plan for 2023 was also discussed and updated, with around 70 activities planned, and the project for next year was outlined, which already has 67 activities and will take place under the presidency of Spain.

At this first meeting Portugal also proposed the revision of the Ministerial Declaration of Intent - the document that formalises the creation of this forum -, to reflect the updates and new areas of work introduced over the last few years.

The 5+5 Defence Initiative is a multilateral forum, with an informal nature, which brings together in dialogue the countries of the North and South of the Western Mediterranean - five from Europe and five from Africa -, not only with the aim of discussing and seeking solutions to common concerns in the area of security and defence, but also to contribute to maintaining a climate of trust and open collaboration between the defence structures of the countries that make up the Initiative.

Decision-making for this Initiative is realized through the annual organisation of two Steering Committee meetings (March and November), at the level of Defence Policy Directors or equivalent, and a Ministerial meeting (December). In addition, an annual meeting of the Chiefs of Defence of the 5+5 countries takes place.

The 5+5 Defence Initiative was created in 2004. Its presidency rotates annually according to the alphabetical order of the member-countries’ names, in English.  At the ministerial meeting held in December last year, Morocco handed over to Portugal, the latter assuming the presidency for 2023.