Malta, Italy, Greece and Cyprus have formed the Grupp Quadro to coordinate better their activities in connection with issues which relate to the Mediterranean, especially after the developments in North Africa.

The group has been formed on the initiative of Foreign Minister Tonio Borg, the Department of Information said.

The group’s first activity was a call on Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi last Thursday. Dr Borg, Italy’s Giulio Terzi, Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis of Cyprus and Greece’s Dimitris Avramopoulos had the meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, where they discussed the situation in Egypt, the war and violence in Syria, and Palestine.

President Mursi asked the Grupp Quadro to spread the message that the new Egypt is safe for investment and tourism and that support for Egypt should not be restricted to the political, but should also be concrete.

President Mursi was firm on Syria, and expressed the belief that there is a possibility that the current leadership would withdraw from the scene to give way to a new leadership, but the opportunity is not open eternally. Egypt was taking an initiative together with Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia to see whether there can be a pacific solution.

On Palestine, the Egyptian President sought the support of Europe for an improvement to the status of the Palestinian Authority at the UN. The authority would this year present a resolution at the UN so that its status would be raised to that of a non-member state.