U.S wants to break European monopoly in Maghreb, U.S official says
Maghreb-USA, Economics, 5/3/1999

Stuart Eizenstat, the U.S. Secretary of State for Economic Affairs who engineered last year an initiative to establish a U.S-Maghreb partnership said his country wants to break the European monopoly in the Maghreb.

"The United States does not want the Maghreb to remain monopolized by the European interests," Eizenstat told Moroccan "Al-Ittihad Al-Ichtiraqi" daily.

Eizenstat insisted, however, that partnership between the Maghreb and the USA is not a source of competition with Europe and does not imply a reduction of trade exchange between the Maghreb and the European Union.

Eizenstat insisted that the USA will benefit from the facilities offered by the Euro-Maghreb partnership, especially in customs.

The Eizenstat initiative aims to "encourage the three Maghreban nations to harmonize their customs systems" in such a way as to intensify bilateral trade exchange and hence, publicize their potentials to U.S. investors.

The initiative revolves around establishing a permanent dialogue at the highest level between the USA and the Maghreban countries, encouraging these countries to lift barriers to ensure a better flow of trade exchange and materializing inter-Maghreban complementarity, leading to better political relations.

In his interview with the Moroccan paper, Eizenstat also said that concentrating the initiative on Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia does not mean that the other Maghreb countries, namely Mauritania and Libya, are completely excluded.

"The door is open for Mauritania if it operates the necessary economic reforms," he said.

"The door is not closed either for Libya," he added, urging Tripoli to commit to observing all United Nations resolutions on the Lockerbie issue. The handing over of the Libyan nationals said to be behind the 1988 Lockerbie bombing is a positive evolution in this connection, he said.

The U.S official called on Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to increase their trade exchanges to be able to form a market of 70 million consumers that will drain foreign investors.

The U.S government held over the weekend in Washington a meeting on the Eizenstat initiative. The meeting was attended by Moroccan economy and finance minister, Fathallah Oualalou, Algerian finance minister, Abdelkrim Harchaoui and Tunisian deputy foreign minister, Tahar Sioud.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco calls for reorienting strategies to human development   (4/29/1999)
  U.S-Maghreb partnership initiative to be discussed in Washington   (4/28/1999)
  Algiers ready to discuss US-North Africa partnership initiative   (11/5/1998)
  Morocco's finance minister examines U.S.-Maghreb cooperation initiative   (10/8/1998)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search