Morocco admitted as observer member to SICA

Central American Integration System (SICA) Morocco has been admitted as an observer member in the Central American Integration System (SICA), which also includes each of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic , announced Secretary general of the Central American integration system, Hugo Martinez.
In his statement he made at the end of the SICA forreign ministers’meeting here late last night and relayed by Moroccan News Agency (MAP) on Thursday , Martinez expressed pleasure for admitting Morocco as an observer member from the outside the region to SICA .
Mococco becomes the first arab and african country to join such a regional alliance which also comprises as associate members each of Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, the United States, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, Taiwan, Spain, Germany, Japan, Australia, South Korea, France, the Vatican, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Morocco and SICA signed in 1999 a cooperation agreement meant to consolidate the South-South axis. The Central American Integration System (SICA) was formally established in 1991.
The Central American Integration System ( SICA) is the economic and political organization of Central American states since February 1, 1993. On December 13, 1991 the ODECA countries signed the Protocol of Tegucigalpa, extending earlier cooperation for regional peace, political freedom, democracy and economic development. SICA’s General Secretariat is in El Salvador.
In 1991, SICA’s institutional framework included Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Belize joined in 2000 as a full member, while the Dominican Republic became an associated state in 2004 and a full member in 2013. Mexico, Chile and Brazil became part of the organization as regional observers, and the Republic of China, Spain, Germany and Japan became extra-regional observers.
Source: QNA