Maghreb countries are focusing on their diaspora communities. The hope is to benefit from their experience and boost local development.
Delegates from the region wrapped up a two-day conference on the issue in Algiers on Tuesday (June 4th). They proposed setting up a permanent Maghreb advisory committee and a monitoring centre.
The two bodies would "uphold the rights of Maghreb communities overseas, address their concerns and help to find practical solutions to their problems", according to participants.
Addressing these issues would enable the expatriate community to "enjoy all of its rights in the host countries while also enabling it to participate in the development of their countries of origin", Libyan Ambassador to Algeria Mohammed Mokhtar Mazen said.
Moroccan official Mohamed Terrab told MAP that the two-day forum was a recommendation from a Rabat gathering of Maghreb employment ministers in 2010.
According to the organisers, the objective of the Algiers conference was to increase co-ordination between Maghreb countries on the issues faced by members of their communities, to better protect their interests and safeguard their rights.
Speaking on behalf of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) General Secretariat, Abdelkhalek Medjber advocated a "joint guidance policy that will help tackle the phenomena of racism and Islamophobia, which are affecting the Maghreb diaspora".
Algerian Secretary of State for the National Overseas Community Belkacem Sahli addressed the circumstances in which the expat Maghreb community finds itself.
"These circumstances require us to engage more deeply in dialogue and co-ordinate our efforts to improve the situation of our community and help it to deal with certain problems such as family breakdown, violence and school abandonment," he said.
"It is advisable to engage in constructive dialogue with the host countries," Sahli added.
The secretary of state stressed "Algeria's determination to guarantee parliamentary representation for its overseas community, which will give it a political presence, protect its rights and maintain its dignity in the host countries."
"The priority is to focus our attention on the concerns of young students," Libyan representative Bellah Ould Melkia noted.
Sustaining contact between Algeria and its overseas communities scattered around the world is paramount, former Algerian ambassador Saleh Belkobi said.
"Just as much as researchers based in Algeria, our overseas community can serve Algeria in all spheres of life," he added.
However, many Maghreb researchers living abroad are not listed in the Algerian national directory for the intellectual community overseas, according to organisers.
"Many of them lose contact with their country of origin," they noted. "This is indicative of the lack of interest taken in this community by the countries of the Maghreb."
© Magharebia.com 2013
