Brussels, 23/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The tendency to negotiate free trade agreements here, there and everywhere is, in the case of Maghreb, the sign of a lack of willingness to integrate the region, says the Algerian “boss of all bosses”.
Réda Hamiani, who is the president of the Algerian forum of business leaders (FCE), comments in a media interview in his country that, in addition, that tendency is heightened by the race to bilateral relations with the EU, to which each of the Maghreb countries is committed, and which does not encourage them to unite. Each country negotiates alone for integration to regional economic blocs, including with the EU or in the context of the greater Arab free trade zone (GZALE), while it would have been desirable, according to the FCE president, for Maghreb countries to negotiate as a united bloc in order not to make too many concessions. He also says that each Maghreb country wants to create its own free trade zone with economic powers external to the region (including the USA). He comes to the severe conclusion that: “The Arab Maghreb Union has broken down and economic relations between the countries of the region still more”.
Hamiani says the resolve to bring the economies of AMU countries closer to each other is difficult to achieve as it does not reflect the reality of the region. In his view, the Arab world and the AMU have never been as divided as they are today. (FB/transl.jl)