The city of Cordoba (Andalusia, Spain) will host during November 22–24, 2005 in the Congresses Palace the 2nd European Conference of Local Authorities on the Middle East Peace Process.

This Conference, supported by Spain´s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, this organized by the Provincial Council of Cordoba, the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI), the European Local Authorities Network for the Peace in the Middle East and the Catalan Fund of Cooperation for Development that also has the collaboration of Association Palestine of Local Authorities of (APLA), the Union of Local Authorities of Israel (ULAI), United Local Governments and Towns (CGLU) and the Confederation of Funds for Cooperation and Solidarity of Spain; intends to join European, Palestinian and Israeli local authorities for the promotion of peace and dialog with the intention to overcome the conflict suffered from years by the Arab and Israeli communities.

The Conference of Cordoba intends to consolidate a common framework for cooperation between different local governments and through the following objectives:

1. Interchange working experiences between those European local governments that already work for the promotion of peace and development in the Middle East, in order to encourage other European local entities to join to the efforts of local associations in Palestine and Israel that intend to achieve progress and peace scenarios.
2. Reinforce the coordination between European Local Governments that work for the devlopment and promotion of peace in the Middle East through decentralized cooperation initiatives.
3. Reinforce the political commitment of the European Union; European Local Governments and the United Nations for the peace in the Middle East, taking into account the concerns and expectations of European, Palestinian and Israeli citizens.
4. Consolidate and broaden the European Local Authorities Network for the Peace in the Middle East in order to strengthen dialog and joint work in the political and executive spheres.
   Cordoba -meeting point of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures- is an excellent place for achieving the necessary dialog and understanding among these three ancient cultures.
   Alongside with the four institutions organizing this event and the support of our sponsors, I am very pleased to invite you to this Conference. We hope this is the ideal scenario to reinforce the necessary cooperation toward the achievement of peace among cultures.

Cordoba -meeting point of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures- is an excellent place for achieving the necessary dialog and understanding among these three ancient cultures.

Yours sincerely,

Francisco Pulido Muñoz
President of the Provincial Council of Cordoba
President of the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity