Tunisian President to embark on Arab Maghreb tour in February

Tunisia's interim President Moncef Marzouki Tunisia's interim President Moncef Marzouki will go on a tour of the Arab Maghreb in the first week of February, which will take him to Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania, according to Tunisian officials. Meanwhile, Morocco’s new Foreign Minister Saad Eddine Othmani started his visit to Algeria on Monday to strengthen bilateral relations between Algeria and Morocco.
According to Tunisian media reports, Tunisian presidential advisor Samir Bin Omar stated that Marzouki's tour would be from February 6 to 11.
During the tour, the Tunisian president will hold talks with the leaders of the states focusing on means of enhancing mutual cooperation, the activation of the Arab Maghreb joint action in addition to reactivating the institutions of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) that has been suspended its annual summit since 1994.
A senior-level Moroccan delegation, included the House of Representatives Speaker Karim Ghellab visited Tunisia in its first anniversary of the revolution, in which Ghellab stated that Marzouki would visit Morocco soon.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Othmani began his two-day visit to Algeria on Monday, where he was received by his Algerian counterpart Mourad Medelci.
Othmani said that his visit was the beginning of a series of consultations and cooperation process between the two countries, according to Moroccan News Agency MAP.
"My visit to Algeria is the first in a series of consultations and a process of cooperation,” he said, adding that his visit was part of "a common will" of both countries to benefit from regional and international conditions for "a new impetus to and further deepening of bilateral relations .”
 "This visit is for us as the new Government of Morocco and to me as the new foreign minister, the beginning of a new dynamic" for bilateral relations and "reflects the desire of both countries to move forward."
"We cannot just decide on this visit or discuss any programmes," he said adding that it was "the beginning of a consultation process".
The Moroccan minister also called for an expansion of Algerian-Moroccan relations to "new areas" stressing the importance of dialogue in the revival of the AMU and its institutions. "We are now aware that changes have occurred in some countries of the AMU, changes to even offer us a better opportunity to overcome barriers to complementarily and integration of the Maghreb."
For his part, Medelci said in a press statement that "there is a will "to strengthen bilateral relations," stressing that "this visit is able to develop mechanisms and programmes along the lines of strengthening bilateral relations and the implementation on the ground of North African aspirations."
"All factors argue in favour of an open relationship" between Algeria and Morocco "year after year" and in all fields including economic, he said, pointing out that his Moroccan counterpart came after the one he made on November 16 in Morocco, in which "we have opened the way for constructive dialogue at the bilateral and Maghreb level and we will continue.”
Regarding the revival of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), Algerian Minister in charge of Maghreb and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel announced on Sunday that foreign ministers of the Arab Maghreb Union are likely to hold a meeting on February 17 at Rabat.