Maghreb countries called to extend state subsidies to agricultural exports

Participants in a seminar on "multilateral trade and its impact on UMA countries" have urged their governments to subsidize agricultural exports as part of a common policy to face multilateral trade.

Hamid El-Ghazi, Morocco's representative at this seminar, held in Rabat, insisted on the importance of such a common policy prior to concluding multilateral agreements. He called on member countries to hold further consultations and to better coordinate their efforts to facilitate access to markets for their agricultural products and to preserve their food security.

On his part, the representative of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Norbert Lebalâ called for measures to guarantee food security in these countries in the absence of subsidies to their products.