Agreement between Moroccan and Algerian press agencies

The two agencies agreed, under a cooperation protocol signed by the Director of APS, Mr. Abdelhamid Kacha, and his Moroccan counterpart, Mr. Khalil Idrissi Hashemi, to establish a bilateral cooperation in the exchange information and anything that relates to multimedia  (audiovisual, video, Internet and computer graphics). Both agencies may, under this protocol, receive and use information from each other.They also committed themselves to share the password  and the key to allow access to each others information bulletins distributed across different  technological media.

They also committed to preserving the content of information, to mention  the source and not to change the direction of the information used. Both agencies have the right  under the protocol, distribute and market the information exchanged to subscribers both in  Morocco and Algeria.They also agreed to strengthen technological cooperation and exchange  experiences and information in all fields of technology, just as they are committed to provide  the facilities, to the extent possible for their special correspondents and in Algeria and in  Morocco.

The two sides also agreed to expand cooperation and exchange visits, training and experience  in the fields of journalism, technical, computer and documentation and coordination at regional conferences and international bodies and unions professional. APS and MAP had already signed a first cooperation agreement in 1989. The protocol was signed in the presence  of the  ministers of communication between the two countries, they had previously signed a  memorandum of understanding for cooperation between the two sectors.

The Algerian Minister, Mr. Nacer Mehal, said the signing of this protocol should strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the media field.

For his part, the Moroccan minister and  the  government spokesman, Mr. Mustapha El Khalfi said the signing of the document is "another step  closer for the two countries."