El Watan: Lack of Maghreb integration blocks Barcelona process, official
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 6/8/2005

The Moroccan Industry Minister has deplored that the lack of Maghreb integration is a "factor that blocks the implementation of the Barcelona process" which lays foundations of a regional relationship between the European Union and partners of the Southern Mediterranean.

Salehedine Mezouar deemed that ten years after the process was launched "aspirations have not been met."

"Unfortunately, we still witness a logic that highlights what keeps us apart rather than what brings us closer," he said in an allusion to the Maghreb Arab Union, a North African regional grouping known by its French acronym UMA and mustering Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

"Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are regarded with a lot of interest. This is frustrating," he said in an interview published by the Algerian newspaper El Watan on the fringes of the 3rd edition of "North Africa business development forum" organized on May 30 in Barcelona.

The Minister deplored, on the other hand, that the Barcelona process has "focused on the political plan and reforms in the Maghreb region whereas it should also work for the development of investment."

"We observe what is going on with bitterness, but the Process remains interesting," he said.

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