Washington renews US-Maghreb partnership initiative

Washington renewed on Wednesday the initiative it launched several months ago to establish an economic and commercial partnership with Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

This initiative, which has "no political dimension" aims to "encourage the three Maghreban countries to harmonize their custom systems" in such a way as to intensify bilateral trade exchange and hence, publicize their potentials to U.S. investors, the U.S. undersecretary for the Middle-East and North Africa, Ronald Neumann, told the press in Tunisia.

The U.S official underlined that the promotion of investments depends, however, on the establishment of "peace and stability" in the region.

The American initiative was launched by U.S. Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Stuart Eizenstat, who toured the region during June.

The initiative revolves around establishing a permanent dialogue at the highest level between the USA and the Maghreban countries, encouraging these countries to lift barriers to ensure a better flow of trade exchanges and materializing inter-Maghreban complementarity leading to better political relations.

In a bid to materialize its initiative, Washington will host a ministerial meeting at the end of the year and a regional conference on investment will be convened by the U.S. administration early next year.