King Mohammed hosts dinner banquet in honor of Ben Ali

King Mohammed VI on Thursday hosted a dinner banquet in honor of President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia.

The king hosted earlier in the afternoon a reception for the Moroccan nationals, living in Tunisia.

During the reception the king decorated several Tunisian figures, including Chadli klibi, former secretary-general of the Arab League, and Salim Alalou, North Africa's delegate to the African Football Confederation.

Alalou is a voter at the executive committee of the World Football governing body (FIFA), which will select early next July the host country of the 2006 World Cup. Morocco is candidate to host the World Cup.

The king decorated other Tunisian and Moroccan figures including physicians, intellectuals, artists and sportsmen.

King Mohammed, who started on Wednesday a three-day state visit to Tunisia, received separately this Friday at his residence in Tunis the Tunisian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi and the speaker of the Tunisian Parliament Fouad Mebazaa.