Five North African countries adopted an action plan to have a regional bank operational in 2009, following an International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendation.

The document adopted in Tripoli calls for Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia to have a bank of investments and commerce up and running by this year.

The plan was adopted at a conference on economic cooperation held this week under the auspices of the IMF with the participation of finance ministers and central bank governors from the five states.

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for efforts to set up a Maghreb bank to be speeded up as a means to promote joint projects.