Since the Union for the Mediterranean was brought forth at the Paris Summit, we have been welded by a sense of optimism for the future that lay ahead. I fully understand this feeling as we are inaugurating a new era; we are witnessing a historic moment.  This unprecedented political will was truly a promising start and I really hope that the same consensus that reigned over the initial steps, over the designation of Barcelona as the venue of the headquarters of the General Secretariat, even over my election as Secretary General, will really prove to be harbinger of the work that lay ahead and the new path we have embraced.