UMA prospects offer cooperation opportunities to fulfill objectives, FM

"The large prospects of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) offer us the occasion to cooperate for the fulfillment of the objectives we have been cherishing for long," said Moroccan foreign minister, Mohamed Benaissa.

Benaissa told the TVM channel, on the eve of the meeting this Thursday in Rabat of UMA foreign ministers, "we will succeed, in time, in settling pending issues between the countries of the union."

"With genuine will and resolve, we will use all that is in the interest of the region," the foreign minister said adding the meeting is convened to consider issues related to the mandate of UMA secretary general, budget and on the results of the follow up commission relating to organizational aspects of the union." The meeting is also the opportunity to consult and consider a number of issues of mutual interest to the union, which groups Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, Benaissa said.

The UMA, which was established in 1989 in the Moroccan central town of Marrakech, has been stalled over several issues, including the Sahara dispute that opposes Morocco to the Algeria-backed polisario that claims the separation of the Moroccan Sahara.