Rabat – The international economic situation marked by the crisis in Europe, the Maghreb’s main trading partner, stresses the need for Maghreban countries to achieve integration which will also help address development challenges.
By Mohammed Hamiddouche-
Amid worries of negative impact of the crisis in Europe on growth in the Maghreb, the five north African countries of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia are called upon to reinvigorate the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) with a view to achieving economic integration.
Twenty-three years after the signing of the AMU treaty, trade exchange between the countries of the Maghreb did not exceed 2 % in 2010, one of the lowest regional trade exchange rates in the globe.
This low level does neither reflect the economic complementarity between Maghreban states nor their natural resources (3% of the world’s oil reserves, 4% of gas reseves and 50% of phosphates reserves).
The non-Maghreb costs the countries of the region 2 points of their growth, the World Bank said. Maintaining the status-quo in Maghreban relations causes an annual loss of 200,000 job opportunities at a time the Maghreb has 3 million unemployed.
Bretton Woods institute goes on to say that a deep Maghreban integration that takes into account the liberalisation of services and the reform of the business climate will help increase the GDP per capita by 34% in Algeria, 27% in Morocco and 24% in Tunisia over the 2005-2015 period.
At an age of globalisation that requires collective responses, the five countries of the Maghreb cannot continue to act individually. They are called upon to combine efforts and to negotiate as a regional bloc their economic interests with other regional grouping.
