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The Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative (BMENA) is a set of projects initiated by G8 and the states in the Middle East (Mashriq) and North Africa (Maghreb) at the Forum for the Future in Barat, Morocco in December, 2004. BMENA is intended to encourage economic and political liberalization in Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries in North Africa and the Middle East. The states party to BMENA are Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen.

History
Intention for legislation like BMENA was originally announced by United States president George W. Bush in November of 2003. President Bush stated that the United States would no longer accommodate friendly but authoritarian regimes in the region. In February 2004, Al-Hayat, a London-based Arab daily publication, published a draft (at the time called the Greater Middle East Initiative .) This draft was created by U.S. administration with European partners and would be presented at the June 2004 G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia. The draft called on G8 members to provide technical assistance to monitor elections, sponsor training programs for independent journalists, increase funding for non-governmental organizations, establish a Middle East development bank, and provide training to women interested in running for elective office in countries with upcoming parliamentary elections. The draft also focused almost exclusively on reform and made little reference to the Arab-Israeli peace process. Many Arab states expressed dismay at having not been included in the drafting process and being informed of the draft through the media. Some governments suggested that they partake in their own internal reform programs in order to take a grassroots approach.

After the initial controversy, American and European diplomats were optimistic that the region's leaders produce an agenda for reform before the G8 summit of June 2004 so that the plan could be framed as a G8 response to Arab demands of reform. In January 2004, the Yemeni government hosted a regional conference on democracy, human rights, and the role of the international criminal court, creating the Sana’a Declaration, which reaffirmed the states’ support for democracy, requested an end to foreign occupation of Arab lands, and suggested the implementation of an “Arab Democratic Dialogue Forum” to foster communication between governments and civil society groups. Arab non-governmental representatives held a conference Arab reform in Alexandria, Egypt in March 2004, creating the Alexandria Statement which requested that individual Arab countries continue their domestic reform programs and created a general reform program agreed to by all Arab countries. Unlike earlier documents, the Alexandria statement called for a two-state solution to the [[Israeli-Palestinian conflict] ].

In May 2004, the Arab League held a summit in Tunisia to adopt resolutions on political reform and on June 8-10 the G8 summit meeting in Sea Island, Georgia launched BMENA and laid the groundwork for future meetings by securing commitments from regional governments and G8 countries to jointly create development and education programs.

Goals

 * Create a fund at the [International Finance Corporation] (IFC) to provide technical support and financial assistance to small businesses in the two regions.
 * Create a “Democracy Assistance Dialogue” so that civil society groups may better discuss reform with regional governments.
 * Create a Microfinance Training Center in Jordan to work with nongovernmental organizations that engage in providing small loans to entrepreneurs who would not be able to obtain financial support from ordinary banks ].
 * Support women's political and economic empowerment through training programs for women intending to run for office.
 * Establish a peace process between Israel and Palestine.

Successes
There is some indication that BMENA may help relations between Iraq and it's allies and the West, as both welcome economic and political reform in the region, though cooperation is uncertain, especially as Europe remains skeptical of the U.S.'s desire to reap the benefits of largely European funded programs.

Criticisms
Many Arab governments expressed frustration at not being included in the original drafting process and learning of the draft via media. Still more questioned the meaning of "the greater Middle East," believing that it didn't account for the varying cultures across the regions, making it difficult to create a set of policies that could be applied, especially to non-Arab and non-Muslim people. Some saw the draft as the United States trying to exert influence over the region via reform policies, while U.S. policy makers insisted that the U.S. was simply trying to support serious reform in countries where local reformers are often silenced ].