Tunisia: al-Maghreb federation summit to be held before end of 2001

The Tunisian foreign minister al-Habib Bin Yahya said that a summit including heads of states of the Arab Maghreb will be held by the end of the current year and it will be preceded by a preliminary meeting for the foreign ministers in March in Algiers.

In a statement to the French monthly magazine " Arabaize " Bin Yahya said that despite arising disputes which obstructs this unionist establishment " I think that a breakthrough in the Arab Maghreb federation is nearby and a meeting for the foreign ministers will be held in Algiers in March in a very rich step that prepares the way for the summit by the end of the current year."

The federation which includes Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Libya was established on February 17, 1989 in Marrakesh but it was frozen since 1995 because of differences among the Arab Maghreb member states, but by the beginning of the current year the states of the Arab Maghreb decided to revitalize the activity of this regional unionist organization.

Bin Yahya explained that bilateral relations among the federation's member states is gradually increasing and strengthened. He cited an evidence the signing of economic agreements between Morocco and Libya as trade exchange are expected to exceed one billion USD and economic relations with Algeria.