Brazil and Morocco wish to deepen their economic and trade relations. This was one of the main matters dealt by the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Relations, Mohamed Benaïssa, and his Brazilian counterpart, Celso Amorim, in a meeting on Friday, January 20, in BrasÀlia, capital city of Brazil.
"The Minister Benaïssa showed great interest in developing this exchange and spoke about the business opportunities in Morocco in some sectors, like agriculture, tourism and infra-structure," said the head of the department of Africa at the Itamaraty, the Brazilian Foreign Office, Fernando Jacques de Magalhães Pimenta, who participated at the meeting.
According to him, Amorim also spoke of the opportunities in Brazil, for example, in the agricultural sector, especially in the production of alcohol fuel, which is going through an expansion period in the country.
Such growth is due to the increase in external demand for the product, which can be used as a less polluting carburant in gasoline, and in internal consumption, result of the success of bi-fuel cars, which work on alcohol, gasoline, or any mixture of the two.
To exploit the potential in trade and partnerships, the two ministers agreed that it is important to organize trade missions as soon as possible.
According to a joint communiqué released by the Itamaraty, a cooperation agreement will be signed between the General Confederation of Companies of Morocco and the Brazilian National Confederation of Industries (CNI).
The ministers also spoke of the need to carry on, "on the shortest period of time possible," the negotiations between the Mercosur, common market of the South, and Morocco for a tariff preference agreement. The framework agreement that set the beginning of this process was signed during the visit of king Mohammed VI to Brazil in November 2004.
Also as a result of the meeting, the Brazil-Morocco Joint Commission should meet for the first time yet this semester. A joint bilateral commission gathers representatives of many areas of the involved governments and the private sector, with the aim of debating and promoting relations between the two countries. According to the joint statement, the date for the meeting has not been scheduled yet, but it will take place in Morocco.
The two ministers spoke also of the possibility of a visit by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Morocco, in retribution to the journey king Mohammed VI made to Brazil.
According to Jacques, Lula is interested in visiting the Arab country, but still has to set a date. "There is an interest in defining this as soon as possible," he stated.
In the field of technical cooperation, the ministers talked about the exchange being developed in areas such as housing, justice, fishery and professional formation.
They decided to give priority now to cooperation in technological and scientific research, according to the statement released by the Itamaraty.
Diplomacy
The ministers also spoke of the need of giving continuity to the work done at the summit for South American and Arab countries, which took place in Brasília last year. Morocco will host the next edition of the meeting for the heads of state, in 2008.
They spoke even of the reform in the United Nations Organization (UN). According to the communiqué published by the Itamaraty, the ministers reaffirmed that the UN reform is "indispensable" and Benaïssa gave his country’s support once again to Brazil’s aim of having the right to hold a permanent seat in the Security Council.
On Friday Benaïssa also met with the Vice-President, José Alencar, and the Presidency advisor for international affairs, Marco Aurélio Garcia. His journey to Brazil is part of a tour through South America, which included also Paraguay, Colombia and Peru.
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