(Ecofin Agency) - The Maghreb investment and external trade bank (BMICE) was officially launched during the general constitutive assembly held on December 21, in Tunis.

The institution, with an initial capital of $150 million, has for mission to finance projects that are common to the five member states of the Arab Maghreb Union (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania and Lybia) in the infrastructure, transport, telecommunication and power sectors. It will also contribute towards building an integrated Maghreb economy through the development of intra-Maghreb trade and the reinforcing of the free flow of goods and capitals between the countries of the region. .

“The bank will allow for a social and economic integration between Maghreb countries by improving flow of capitals, investments and trade,” highlighted Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid, during the launching ceremony.

Secretary General of Union du Maghreb Arabe (UMA), Habib Ben Yahya, for his part, expressed his “immense satisfaction to see all the member states honor their promise by providing the first quarter of their share in the bank’s capital”.

The constitutive assembly appointed as BMICE’s director general, the former state secretary of International Cooperation and Development, Nouerddine Zekri.

The framework agreement establishing BMICE was signed in 1991 between UMA’s five member states but the bank’s status was approved only in 2006. The implementation of the UMA, which represents a market of 90 million consumers, was indeed stopped for over 25 years due to the conflict opposing Morocco and Algeria regarding the Western Sahara.

Trade between UMA’s five members represents only 3% average of global trade between those countries (one of the lowest integration rates worldwide). A study by International Monetary Fund (IMF) reveals that the Maghreb economic integration could insure 2 to 3 points in growth to each of these countries annually.