VALLETTA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The second Western Mediterranean Dialogue, commonly known as the "5+5 Dialogue" opens here on Friday, with some main issues, such as illegal immigration, security and the debt crisis, expected to be put on desk.
The initiative of this regional grouping was first proposed by France in 1980s and was officially set up on October 10 of 1990 in Rome.
The second edition of this meeting is about to bring leaders from France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Malta face-to-face with their counterparts from Mauritania, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco. The first such summit was held in Tunis in December 2003.
During the meeting, a declaration is to be signed by the leaders, which would be on base of on the outcome of the Ninth Foreign Ministers meeting held in Rome on February 20, 2012, according to the Maltese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tonio Borg.
Borg, who said on the United Nations General Assembly last week that the 5+5 meeting was an opportunity to address the wave of democratic reform occurring across the Arab world, told local media on Friday that the final declaration is also expected to encourage further democratic reform in the North African countries.
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