The Arab Maghreb Union is expected to host a summit in Morocco in 2019, announced the body's Secretary-General Taieb Baccouche. The last meeting of its kind took place in Tunisia in 1994. The Arab Maghreb Union is preparing for a new summit, almost 24 years after its last one was hosted in Tunisia. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania have accepted the invitation of the body's Secretary-General Taieb Baccouche who urged them to attend a session of the Union's Executive Council in Tunis. The meeting is an opportunity for the five countries to prepare for the Union's 7th summit, scheduled for 2019 in Morocco, according to Baccouch who hosted an Arab Maghreb Union's round-table on Saturday. According to the Secretary-General, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita «confirmed that his country is determined to host the 7th Arab Maghreb Union summit, commemorating the 30th anniversary of its creation», reports online newspaper La Presse. The royal initiative The idea of hosting an AMU's 7th summit comes as King Mohammed called Algeria to join the creation of a joint mechanism for dialogue and revive the regional organization, created on the 17th of February, 1989, through the signing of the Marrakech treaty. Responding to the royal initiative launched by Morocco, Algeria called the General Secretary of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) to convene a meeting of the Union's Foreign Affairs Ministers Council. The organization's Secretariat General reacted to the proposal indicating in a statement, issued on November the 24th, that the Union's Secretary General, Taieb Baccouche received the idea with «great satisfaction». Following the Algerian proposal, Mauritanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a communiqué stressing that the country is ready to host the above-mentioned meeting. «The Arab Maghreb Union is a framework created to strengthen fraternity in the region and a tool that can be used to improve social and economic cooperation between the neighboring countries», wrote the Mauritanian Foreign Ministry. For the record, the Arab Maghreb Union's Foreign Affairs Ministers Council works on sessions and examines the proposals of the Monitoring Committee and the Committee of Ministers. The presence of all members is required for the holding of an extraordinary or a normal session at the invitation of the Chair or at the request of a member country.
