Maghreban Union a strategic choice, says Moroccan premier
The advent of the Arab Maghreb Union is a strategic choice we cannot renounce despite transient roadblocks delaying the building up of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), Moroccan Premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi said.
"Because of historical and geographical reasons, as well as developments on the world scene, we cannot deviate from this strategic choice," he told Wednesday the Saudi daily "Al Jazira."
King Mohammed VI, he went on, carries on the process initiated by the late King Hassan II meeting the hopes for a unified Maghreb of the entire Moroccan people.
As to relations with Algeria, Youssoufi recalled how Morocco always insisted on good neighborly ties and said the government would make moves to bring relations back to normal.
Meantime, Morocco and Algeria can directly settle differences and need no outside mediation, Ronald Neumann, American deputy vice-secretary of state, told Asharq al-Awsat daily. The newly-invested leaders can do without strife and should work jointly to lay foundations for mutual trust and take up coming challenges, he said.
