The Group of Transport Ministers for the Western Mediterranean (GTMO 5+5) aims to promote cooperation on transport in the Western Mediterranean and to contribute to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The members of GTMO 5+5 are the Transport Ministers of the ten countries in the region (Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia). The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, the General Secretariat of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) and the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) also participate as observers. CETMO performs the function of Technical Secretariat.

The GTMO 5+5 is a group for cooperation in transport at the highest level and was created in 1995 in Paris, where the meeting was held to establish the group. At the Ministerial Conference in Tunis in March 2007, the ministers adopted and signed a protocol for cooperation with the aim of strengthening the group’s institutional structure.

The GTMO 5+5 Presidency rotates among the countries and is transferred at the Ministerial Conference, which is generally held every two years. A work programme is proposed and implemented by the Technical Secretariat and the group of experts based on the conclusions of the Ministerial Conference. The group of experts is made up of the national coordinators of the ministries in charge of transportation and meets twice a year to monitor implementation of the work programme.

GTMO 5+5 activities are organized based on the following priority areas for cooperation defined in the Tunis Protocol:

• Enhancing a database and methods allowing for regular identification of priorities in the Western Mediterranean based on work carried out by CETMO.
• Definition and development of a multimodal transport network in the Western Mediterranean, with special emphasis on links with trans-European networks and networks in neighbouring countries.
• Search for advantageous infrastructure-financing modes from financing partners.
• Exchange and transport facilitation, with special emphasis on the transport chain as a whole.
• Upgrading transport-related companies, from the perspective of setting up the free-trade area.
• Development of research on transport in the region through the involvement of Euro-Mediterranean university networks and the promotion of Maghreb countries’ participation in community research programmes.
• Identifying studies on transport developments in the region and the search for financing to implement them.
• Reinforcing transport safety and security in the region.

To date, more than 20 meetings have been held of the GTMO 5+5 group of experts. The Ninth Conference of Transport Ministers of the GTMO 5+5 was held in Mauritania in December 2018.