Morocco - Mozambique joint commission to be revived, says youssoufi

Morocco and Mozambique agreed to reactivate the soonest possible the two countries' joint commission which never convened short of a working frame, said premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi.

The vice-chairman of the Socialist International (SI) who attended the organization council in Maputo last week told MAP bureau here his visit to Mozambique was also meant to confer with President Chissano and his Mozambican peer on ways to rapidly revive relations between the two countries, stalled for 25 years.

Contacts with Mozambican officials helped identify priority cooperation fields and the agreements to be signed to form the backbone of the legal framework for immediate and wide-ranging fruitful cooperation, he said.

Of the SI meetings, Youssoufi said the national council assessed the situation in Africa in terms of political, economic and social development as well as in the field of freedom of speech. Several proposals were made to consolidate democratic practices in the continent and open a new era of international cooperation geared towards development in the region, he pointed out.

Tragic developments in the Middle-east covered by the council was also the main item in the preceding meeting of the SI praesidium which invited member countries to make peace moves to restore calm in the region. President Arafat and premier Barak will be invited to a coming praesidium meeting to be told protracted hostilities in the area endanger the whole planet, he said.

Youssoufi said the SI Platform, the "identitary document" of the organization, in elaboration since 1994, was adopted unanimously as a major achievement and gain for the SI.

The document develops deep reflection on how people and nations could profit from the dividends of "globalization" and avoid its drawbacks, how to associate social progress with economic development and uphold social justice in the face of market-domination.