Prime Minister Abbas El fassi of Morocco
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Original source: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License
Original source: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License
El Fassi was born in Berkane, Morocco on September 18, 1940.
Abbas el Fassi was born in Berkane, east Morocco, on 18 September 1940.
By virtue of his diligence and experience, el Fassi was elected by his colleagues as the chairman of the Rabat committee in 1975.
Running parallel with his legal career, el Fassi was an active participant in the political scene and was elected as the head of the General Union of Moroccan Students (UGEM) in 1961, which was to become the school that nurtured and reared many of the cadres who would later join the ranks of the resistance fighters of the Istiqlal party.
In 1985, el Fassi was appointed by King Hassan II as the Moroccan Ambassador to Tunisia, in addition to being Moroccos ambassador to the Arab League.
El Fassi found himself in a position where not only did he have to represent his country, he also had to protect its image after Morocco was accused of backing the former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and encouraging him to go to Israel and enter the Camp David negotiations, which ended in the signing of the Camp David Accords and a peaceful truce between Egypt and Israel.
Continuing his ascent up the diplomatic ladder, el Fassi was next appointed as the ambassador to France (1990-1994) under former French president François Mitterrands term.
As such, el Fassi is aware that the new government does not have the publics support and is thus in a challenging position.
Among his duties, el Fassi is expected to consult with political parties to appoint a new cabinet at the Kings behest.
El Fassi said he was proud of the confidence placed in him by King Mohammed VI and that he would respect to the letter the monarchs advises and orientations adding that he will start as by tomorrow Thursday his contacts with the other political parties prior to the formation of the new cabinet.
El Fassi came few days after the separate meetings held by the monarch with six political parties which won over 20 seats in theses elections, a figure that constitutes a threshold required by the House's regulations to form parliamentary groups.
El Fassi was State Minister without portfolio in the outgoing government made up of a coalition of five parties.
His Majesty the King honoured me when he charged me with conducting the necessary consultations with Moroccan parties to form the upcoming government," El Fassi said following the king's announcement.
El Fassi said earlier that he expected the current majority, consisting of Istiqlal, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, the Party of Progress and Socialism, the National Rally of Independents and the Popular Movement Party, would form the new government.
I hope that the new Prime Minister Abas el Fassi is going to choose some respectable and able-bodied people to construct a new and strong Morocco.
I have suffered and I’m still suffering, but I did never trust any of the previous governments as much as I felt reassured when I heard that Abbas El Fassi is at the head of the government.
Veteran politician Abbas el Fassi was named as Morocco's next prime minister on Wednesday, facing the twin challenges of widespread poverty and an upsurge in activity by radical Islamists.
RABAT (Reuters) - Veteran politician Abbas el Fassi was named as Morocco's next prime minister on Wednesday, facing the twin challenges of widespread poverty and an upsurge in activity by radical Islamists.
El Fassi leads the conservative Istiqlal (Independence), which became the biggest party in the Rabat assembly's lower house after September 7 polls in which a moderate Islamist party made a strong showing.
However, talks with the prime minister’s office, "lost their credibility as soon as Abbas El Fassi settled for making promises", USF general secretary Mohamed Hakech said, adding that while many "issues have been up in the air for years, El Fassi has to deliver on the commitments made by his predecessor.
El Fassi said the king had asked him to consult with political parties to come up with a cabinet.
El Fassi is the third prime minister to serve under the king, who took the throne in 1999.
El Fassi met with leaders of his nationalist party on Thursday and was to hold talks with the heads of other chiefs of the outgoing five party coalition on Friday.
Abbas El Fassi is Morocco's Secretary of State.
Abbas El Fassi has delivered a personal message from the King Mohamed VI to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Foreign Ministry Department of Information and Press disclosed to a RIA Novosti correspondent.
According to the Ministry, Igor Ivanov and Abbas El Fassi discussed the issue concerning the Western Sahara settlement.
Abbes El Fassi is member of a ministerial delegation representing the Organization of Islamic conference (OIC) which met UN secretary general, Kofi Annan.
El Fassi said the delegation called for the UN support to the "road map," drafted by the quartet made up of the UN, the US, the EU, and Russia, with as a main objective to create a Palestinian state by 2005.
El Fassi is leader of the conservative Istiqlal (Independence) party, which became the biggest party in the Rabat assembly's lower house after a September 7 election.
Likewise, el Fassi was elected as secretary-general of Istiqlal party in 1998 following in the footsteps of Allal al Fassi and the influential Mohamed Boucetta.
Following his meeting with the Governor General, El Fassi said it has been agreed to send a Canadian business mission to Morocco to assess the advantages and opportunities offered by Moroccan economy.
Prime Minister, Abbas el Fassi said on Wednesday that the new government will pursue the efforts aimed at ensuring success to the Moroccan initiative to grant substantial autonomy to its Southern Provinces, The Sahara, in a bid to solve the 32-year-old dispute over the control of this territory with the Algeria-backed Polisario separatists.
From his part, Abbas El Fassi said that the advanced status desired by Rabat is not only based on geographical proximity, but also on the adhesion to common values, namely the respect for human rights, individual and collective liberties, gender equality, justice and solidarity and the rule of law.
Premier Abbas El Fassi expressed apprehension over King Carloss move to the despoilt towns as Carlos referred to them in during his maiden visit when he came to power in 1975.