Forum for the Future meeting in Morocco will be a success, US official
Regional-Morocco, Politics, 11/12/2004

The United States is convinced that the first meeting of the "Forum for the Future" meeting, to be held in Morocco next december 11 will be a success, said in Washington Wednesday, US under-secretary for economics, business and agricultural affairs Alan Larson.

Talking at a briefing held in Washington on the forum agenda, the US official recalled that the decision to hold the forum in Morocco was made during the meeting of the foreign ministers of the broad Middle East and North Africa foreign ministers (BMENA) and those of the G8, last September 24 in New York.

"It was an extraordinarily productive session that really helped to launch the idea of holding this meeting. And the decision was taken there that Morocco would be the host of the first meeting of the Forum of the Future," he said adding that "the agenda is really about working together to create greater opportunities for the next generation in the Broader Middle East." He cited, as examples, the micro-finance initiative for small enterprises and the proposal for a regional facility of the International Finance Corporation that could make loans to small businesses.

Finance ministers will also discuss a creative idea for a network of funds that could bring together some of the regional financial institutions to exchange views about how to bring more capital into the region, said the official who also announced another proposal for a task force on investment.

The US under-secretary insisted that "each of these initiatives have champions, and they have strong supporters from within the region"

Also participating in the briefing held at the foreign press center, was Faryar Shirzad, the Senior Director for International Economic Affairs at the National Security Council, who said the forum is designed to "bring governmental leaders, in this instance, the foreign ministers, together to talk about the issues of democracy, political reform, to share experiences (...)." He insisted that this forum "isn't an effort to impose anything from the outside, as much as it is to facilitate efforts that are already being undertaken within the region."

Morocco officially announced on Tuesday that its capital city Rabat will play host on December 11 to the first meeting of the "Forum for the Future."

The meeting will be also attended by representatives of international and regional organizations, including the Arab league, the Arab Maghreb Union, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union.

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