Morocco, Tunisia Eye Reinforcing Cooperation in Vehicles Industry

Morocco, Tunisia Eye Reinforcing Cooperation in Vehicles Industry
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Morocco, Tunisia Eye Reinforcing Cooperation in Vehicles Industry

Morocco, Tunisia Eye Reinforcing Cooperation in Vehicles Industry

Representatives from the business sector in Morocco and Tunisia have expressed their desire to reinforce economic integration between the two countries, especially with the development of the exporting vehicles sector in Morocco and the Tunisian expertise in manufacturing vehicles’ components.

Morocco produces around 400,000 vehicles annually and exports 90 percent of them to Europe, especially Spain and the region of the south of the Mediterranean Sea.

In return, the industry of vehicles’ components is one of the oldest in Tunisia and the most developed in the region – around 90,000 engineers and laborers work in this sector.

Tunisian Minister for Development, Investment and International Cooperation Zied Ladhari said that the authorities and businessmen in Tunisia and Morocco have become convinced more than any time in the necessity of activating the joint bilateral and regional agreements and conventions that enhance cooperation between the two countries.

Ladhari stated to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the Tunisian government is working on developing the economic partnership with Morocco. He noted that the Tunisian and Moroccan authorities and businessmen are not content with the weak performance of trade exchanges of approximately 1 percent of the imports and exports of each country.

The minister called for benefiting from the basic industrial structure of both countries, a matter that offers the opportunity to enhance cooperation and investment, namely in industries of vehicles, food, health, and training, etc.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”