"The integrated Maghreb will be a key element of the UpM. Unfortunately, our Algerian brothers keep the border closed," Fassi Fihri said at a panel discussion co-chaired with his French peer Michele Alliot-Marie, under the theme "For an area of growth and stability in the Mediterranean."

    This situation, Fassi Fihri went on, has brought the Maghreb to a "standstill", as evidenced by the "extremely low" trade exchanges between its countries.

    He also regretted the lack of joint infrastructure and projects in the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU).   

    Fassi Fihri deemed that the UpM is a further step to complete the 1995 Barcelona process, as it provides for joint management between the North and South with a secretariat based in Barcelona.

    It also identifies concrete projects (solar plan, sea motorways, highways, civil defense and small and medium-sized industries/enterprises), which coincides with the priorities that HM King Mohammed VI set, he pointed out.

    He recalled that Morocco has taken the initiative, as part of the Euro-Mediterranean perspective, to engage in South-South cooperation, particularly through the Agadir Agreement.

    “Pending an integrated Maghreb, we took this initiative of free trade zone, which goes beyond the exchange of goods between Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan, and remains open to all Arab and Mediterranean countries,” he said.

    Referring to the UpM’s deadlock due to the situation in the Middle East, Fassi Fihri stressed that “the Arab-Israeli conflict should not take the UpM hostage.”