As we anticipated last week (see related news), on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 in Brussels at a meeting of senior officials of the Mediterranean Union, Ahmad Khalaf Masa'deh (pictured) has been named by consensus the first secretary of the Union for the Mediterranean. The appointment must be endorsed by Foreign Affairs ministers of the Union's Countries: just a formality.

Based in Brussels since 2006, Mr. Masa 'deh was in 2004-2005 Jordanian Minister of Public Sector Reform. He is a lawyer, born in May 19, 1969. His studies reviewed the American legal system at Princeton University and Charlottesville (USA).

He will work from the Union's headquarters in Barcelona, where he will be assisted by six deputies, including in particular a Turk, an Israeli, a Palestinian, a representative of the Arab League, whose skills have not been defined yet.