Maghreb leaders attend UN aid conference in Doha

2008-12-01

Maghreb heads of state and government officials joined international dignitaries and financial leaders Saturday (November 29th) in Doha for the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development, aimed at mitigating world poverty through aid, debt relief and other initiatives. Moroccan Prime Minster Abbas El Fassi read a statement from King Mohammed VI urging the international community to adopt a concrete development road map, identify innovative financing sources and alleviate the debt burden on developing countries.

On Sunday, Algerian Finance Minister Karim Djoudi presented his country's proposal to create a liaison committee between the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development (G-24) and the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G-20). Under the proposal, the committee will be set up to represent developing countries and defend their interests at global financial crisis assessment meetings, APS reported.

In his comments to the conference, Mauritanian Prime Minister Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf urged nations to "open their markets to exports from developing countries" and to "remove obstacles that prevent such action, including customs barriers", AMI reported on Monday (December 1st). Tunisian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouch is also attending the Qatar conference, which runs through Tuesday.