Forum for the Future to seek support, not to impose reforms in the region, US official

The Forum for the Future to be held in Rabat December 11-12 is meant to seek support to reforms in the Broader Middle East and North Africa region, and will not impose such reforms, insisted, in Washington Monday, American Under-Secretary for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, Alan Larson

The first ever held Forum that will be co-chaired by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Mohamed Benaissa will bring together Foreign and Finance Ministers of over 20 countries from the Broader Middle East and North Africa region (BMENA) and their counterparts of the group of eight most industrialized countries. It will address issues related to democracy, economic development and dialogue between the civil society of the two regions.

State Department spokesman said the U.S. delegation to the conference will include several other officials including Secretary of Treasury, representatives of non-governmental organizations and the business community.

The forum is an initiative of the "Partnership for Progress and a Common Future with the Region of the Broader Middle East and North Africa" declaration adopted on June 9, 2004, at the Sea Island Summit in Georgia, USA.

Alan Larson who was speaking from Washington during a video-conference organized by the American Embassy in London, said the meeting which provides the opportunity to expand cooperation between the two regions (broader Middle East and North Africa and the G-8), will attempt to reach partnership formulas for the improvement of the political, economic and social environment in the region and improve the living conditions of populations.

He said the meeting will seek support to the reforms adopted in the region, through a series of initiatives, mainly micro-credits, the creation of network of regional financial institutions and encouraging dialogue on democracy.

He also insisted that no solutions will be imposed by the forum which remains a space for consultation.

Echoing him, Youssef Amrani, General Director of Bilateral Relations at the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation stressed that the forum is "a space for flexible, open and regular dialogue meant to reinforce democracy, civil participation, the rule of law, human rights, and a modern economy."

He argued that the encounter is the central axis of a partnership based on co-responsibility and mutual respect and oriented to the promotion of appropriate economic, political, social and education reforms while keeping in harmony with the region countries values, cultural and religious specificity.

Amrani further underlined that there is no contradiction between this initiative and other initiatives carried out in the region.

A package of initiatives will be put forward, he said citing Bahrain's proposal for the creation of Network of Funds, Jordan's initiative for an Investment Task Force, micro-finance formulas put forward by Bahrain and Yemen, a joint proposal by Morocco and Bahrain for entrepreneurial training, Democracy Assistance Dialogue (Turkey, Italy and Yemen) and the US-brokered regional facility.

He also insisted that the Rabat forum for the future will provide an opportunity to start a fruitful exchange and draw lessons from national experiences in order to benefit from best practices in the region. Any attempt to apply stereotyped and external model will only exacerbate rejection and serve forces that are hostile to change, he warned.