World Bank-Morocco ties most important in the region, WB official says

The World Bank (WB) vice-president for the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) said WB relations with Morocco are the most important in the MENA region.

"Following the advent of the alternation government in Morocco, we decided to deepen our cooperation and launched two major operations to back up reforms," Kamal Dervis told local "Liberation" daily.

These two operations focus on telecommunications and the general reform of economic management, he explained.

The reforms enacted by Morocco will yield fruit in few years, he said, before renewing the World Bank's readiness to extend the necessary financial support to Morocco.

The WB official voiced regret over the absence of a Maghreban economic union, saying this harms cooperation among the countries of the region.

The Arab Maghreb Union, set up in 1989 by Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania is now confined to a state of paralysis due to conflicts between member states.