Algiers , July 9, 2012 (MAP)
Algiers , July 9, 2012 (MAP)
The Maghreb region is facing many development and security challenges which requires the formation of a real bloc to carry out a shared vision for the region’s future, Foreign Minister Saad Dine El Otmani said on Monday in Algiers.
“This meeting is a real opportunity to consult and exchange viewpoints on efficient means to strengthen security cooperation between the countries of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) and also between our grouping and its immediate environment, as part of a broad integrated regional strategy for the Maghreb area and neighboring zones, mainly the Sahel and Sahara region,” El Otmani said at the opening of the AMU’s foreign ministers council on “The Issue of Security in the Maghreb”.
“The attendance of our delegation mirrors anew the willingness and resolve of the Kingdom of Morocco to strive, along with Maghreb sister nations, for the revitalization of this regional bloc through establishing adequate conditions that would help create a new era which is reminiscent of a common past and aspire to a better future,” the minister added.
He noted that the Moroccan vision of regional security cooperation is based on three main pillars namely “bilateral approach, Maghreb approach and regional approach which encompass neighboring areas and open on superpowers with which Maghreb countries have strategic partnerships.”
“To make Maghreb security cooperation more efficient,” El Otmani said it is necessary to include in this vision “the dimensions of solidarity-based development and of democracy.”
The minister called for laying the bases of a solid security cooperation bilaterally, mainly concerning the exchange of information and expertize, adding that Maghreb countries should consider the security dimension as a component of Maghreb integration.
This meeting is marked by the participation of AMU’s Secretary General and organized in accordance with the decision by the foreign ministers council, held in Rabat on February 18.
