The Barcelona Process was launched in the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Barcelona on 28 November 1995 with the aim of strengthening relations between Europe and the Southern Mediterranean countries. On that date, the ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU and 12 southern and eastern Mediterranean countries held the conference and signed an agreement to launch the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Process. The Barcelona Process was born as a new dialogue framework out of a vocation to convert the Mediterranean region into a common space for peace, stability, security and shared socio-economic progress and dialogue between peoples.