Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs Jose W. Fernandez will address the press corps about his just-completed trip to Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco. This on-camera briefing will take place at noon on December 9 in the Department of State’s press briefing room (Room 2209).

In Algeria, Assistant Secretary Fernandez led the U.S. delegation to the first-ever U.S.-Maghreb Entrepreneurship Conference, which convened business leaders, youth and entrepreneurs from North Africa, the North African Diaspora and the United States, in order to bolster youth employment and business development in the Maghreb. Assistant Secretary Fernandez also unveiled the U.S. – North Africa Partnership for Economic Opportunity (NAPEO), a public-private partnership focused on boosting economic opportunity in the region.

Following the Conference, Assistant Secretary Fernandez traveled to Tunisia, Libya and Morocco to meet with senior officials and businesspeople to galvanize support for NAPEO and to further economic engagement throughout the Maghreb region.

Media representatives may attend the press briefing upon presentation of one of the following: (1) A U.S. Government-issued identification card (Department of State, White House, Congress, Department of Defense or Foreign Press Center), (2) a media-issued photo identification card, or (3) a letter from their employer on letterhead verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by an official photo identification card (driver’s license, passport.)

For more information about NAPEO, please visit: http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/fs/2010/152223.htm