Maghreban follow-up committee meets in Algiers

The follow-up committee of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) held its 38th session in Tangiers Wednesday at ministerial level, to prepare for the meeting of the foreign ministers' council.

The committee looked into the report of the UMA secretary general on Maghreban integration and the situation of UMA structures and set the schedules of meetings of the various ministerial commissions (food security, economy and finance, infrastructure and human resources).

Participants expressed satisfaction over the holding last September in Rabat of the 4th session of the UMA Choura council (parliamentary body) with the participation of all its members, 30 Mps from each of the five member countries.

They called for convening the UMA judiciary body -that musters two magistrates from each member state-to swear in the magistrates, appoint a secretary general and set a program of action.

The session urged the Maghreban university to convene its administrative board before the end of 2001 and also stressed the need for the Maghreban academy of sciences to hold a meeting.

The participants appealed member countries to ratify the accord setting up the Maghreban investment and foreign trade bank, so that the institution contributes to promoting inter-Maghreban trade and investment.

Secretary General of the ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation, Rachad Bouhlal, who led the Moroccan delegation to the meeting called for overcoming the obstacles that hamper the UMA march, in a spirit of brotherhood, and for implementing the programs set in the economic, cultural and social fields.

He renewed Morocco's conviction that the UMA is a strategic choice, a popular aspiration and a regional necessity.