International Organizations Build Partnership for North Africa's Integration

8 June 2015
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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa)
press release

Rabat — From 3 to 4 June 2015, the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), ECA, ADB, FAO, IDB, UNESCO, ISESCO, WHO, IOM and ILO took part in the annual North Africa Sub-Regional Coordination Mechanism (SRCM-NA), in Rabat (Morocco).

« This meeting was the first of our partnership's annual evaluations. It allowed us to make sure our work responds to regional challenges, and check our alignment with the medium-term priorities of UMA and its member countries », explained Mrs Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane, Director of the ECA office for North Africa.

Set up in June 2014, SRCM-NA is a sub-regional section of the Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM) - Africa to increase synergies between UN agencies and other organizations, lenders or donors, aiming to support Africa's development. The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is in charge of the RCM-Africa coordination and secretariat. In North Africa, SRCM-NA aims to facilitate consultation and collaboration between international and regional institutions supporting UMA and its member countries in seven cooperation areas. The ECA office for North Africa is in charge of coordinating its activities.

Following the 3-4 June meeting, participating organizations agreed, in a first phase, to coordinate their support to UMA objectives and seize opportunities for synergies in four key areas: Strengthening institutional capacities; Trade, industry and market access; Human resources, employment, gender and social protection; Agriculture, food security and rural development.

Participants also decided to widen the SRCM-NA agenda beyond the existing collaboration with the UMA General Secretariat by including other North African actors such as professional organizations, to pursue regional integration objectives while avoiding political obstacles. SRCM-NA membership will also be extended to optimize the mobilization of human and financial resources needed for their projects.

UMA Secretary General Mr Habib Ben Yahia used the opportunity to thank the Arab Maghreb Union's partner institutions, including ADB, FAO and ECA. "ECA has been a key partner since my arrival in Rabat by taking part in this new approach which consists in viewing the Maghreb as a basis to build cooperation and understanding, both at the bilateral and the multilateral level. I also thank ECA and ADB for their follow up and the help they gave us especially by producing studies with significant implications for the Arab Maghreb's future", he said.

In this regional context marked by the rise of terrorism and exacerbated by persisting youth unemployment and weak job creation, « there is no doubt that the Maghreb's integration, at all levels - economic, social or security related - are necessary to help speed up growth, job creation and the fight against unemployment and precariousness » said Mr Ben Yahia. He stressed that in order to reach these objectives, the UMA General Secretariat is working, with support from its partners, to make the Union's objectives a reality: achieving the free circulation of goods, services, persons and capital, including through the free trade agreement signed by the North African Ministers of Trade in 2010 and the Maghreb Bank for Investment and Foreign Trade.

Following this meeting, international and UN partner organizations will appoint focal points to coordinate their activities with UMA and pursue the exchanges initiated in various cooperation areas. The ECA office for North Africa will support synergies by putting its knowledge management platform at the disposal of participating international organizations.

Created in 1989, the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) aims to build a North African economic union which would include Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia. ECA is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Its Office for North Africa aims to support the development of seven countries across the sub region (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia and Sudan) by helping them formulate and implement policies and programs that support their economic and social transformation. ECA's partnership with UMA dates back to the cooperation agreement both organizations signed on 27 December 1994 in Algiers.

Read the original article on UNECA.

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