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Washington, January 14, 2012 (MAP)
The promotion of intra-Maghreb relations and the improvement of access to capital for the young entrepreneurs in the region will be among the key goals of the 2nd annual U.S. – Maghreb Entrepreneurship Conference, due in Marrakech on January 16-18, said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs Jose W. Fernandez.
Fernandez said the meeting, which is a regional follow-on to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship held in Washington, D.C., in April 2010, will also examine means to catalyze youth entrepreneurship in the Maghreb and explore the business opportunities generating jobs.
The meeting also gives an opportunity to build partnerships with Maghreb diaspora entrepreneurs in the United States, underlined the U.S. official, in an interview with Moroccan MAP news agency, saying that 20 partnerships, between Maghreb and U.S. private entities, will be announced on this occasion.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he said, “has been very insistent that we bring the diaspora from the Maghreb into this because they know their countries better,” which is an asset for the potential U.S. investors.
Fernandez will lead a senior-level delegation from the United States to participate in the conference, which serves as the annual partnership convening event for the U.S. – North Africa Partnership for Economic Opportunity (NAPEO), part of the global alliance Partners for a New Beginning (PNB).
No less than 60 speakers will speak during the event, including former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, president of the Aspen Institute, Walter Isaacson, as well as president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Hernando de Soto.
