site.btaPrime Minister Borissov Makes Official Visit to Morocco

122 POLITICS - MOROCCO - PM - VISIT

Prime Minister Borissov
Makes Official Visit
to Morocco


Rabat, November 29 (BTA) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov met with Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani on Thursday. He is on a two-day official visit to Morocco, said the Government Information Service.

Borissov said: "To us, Morocco is a promising foreign trade partner as can be seen from the increase in two-way trade in recent years, but there still is unused potential which we have set out to develop." He expressed a hope that his visit would give an extra impetus to top-level bilateral political dialogue and would open up new opportunities for cooperation in areas of shared interest.

For his part, Othmani said his country's cooperation with the EU had been very good from the start. Morocco has a strong, substantial presence in Africa, he said, and thanked Bulgaria for always backing the idea of close EU-Morocco relations.

Borissov noted that Morocco's geographic proximity to, and status in the relations with, the EU place that country among Bulgaria's main partners in the future. "We want to participate in joint projects within EU programmes implemented by Morocco," he said. He added that Bulgaria would like to make the most of Morocco's solid presence in Africa, more specifically in the countries of West Africa, as a springboard for joint economic and political cooperation with third African countries.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister said Sofia is interested in closer security cooperation with Morocco, "which will deepen our partnership and will increase the value added for both countries".

Borissov stressed there are good prospects for cooperation in the arms industry, mechanical engineering and metalworking. He also identified a need of investment cooperation and joint ventures.

The two government leaders singled out construction, the textile industry, tourism, transport, manufacturing and the food industry as promising areas of investment cooperation. LI/DD