A Paris summit hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a 43-nation Union for the Mediterranean.
The new grouping embraces the 27 EU nations along with countries in the Middle East and North Africa that form the Mediterranean Sea's eastern and southern rim.
In a declaration, the 43 nations - including Israel and Arab states - pledged to "pursue a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction".
Mr Sarkozy singled out as a "success" the fact that Israel's prime minister had sat at the same table as Syria's president. The two countries are still technically at war. The leaders of the Palestinian Territories and many other Arab countries also attended Sunday's summit, though Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi boycotted it.
The declaration speaks of the leaders' determination to "transform the Mediterranean into an area of peace, democracy, co-operation and prosperity".
The new union is aimed at building on the "Barcelona Process" for Euro-Mediterranean co-operation, launched in 1995.
Among its stated goals are:
The summit was co-chaired by Mr Sarkozy and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. Future summits - to be held twice-yearly - will also be co-chaired, emphasising the partnership of EU members and non-EU Mediterranean countries. The summits will be hosted alternately by EU and non-EU countries.
A joint secretariat will be set up to oversee projects and find partners, and the union's structures should be fully operational by the end of 2008.
The summit produced some practical projects - outlined in an annex to the declaration - with each member state free to participate:
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