French-Moroccan high joint commission meets tomorrow in Fes
Morocco-France, Politics, 11/3/1999

French Prime Minster Lionel Jospin is expected in Morocco Thursday to co-chair with his Moroccan peer, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, the third annual meeting of the high joint commission (November 4-5).

According to French ambassador to Morocco, Michel de Bonnecorse, this "highly political" meeting will be marked by important announcements regarding development projects in Morocco and the swapping of Moroccan debts.

The diplomat told the Moroccan daily "Liberation" three major axes will be covered by the meeting: exchanging viewpoints on a set of international issues, including the Middle East, Euro-Mediterranean projects, the situation in the Maghreb, assistance to Africa and others.

Another axis will deal with assessing enforcement of decisions made a year ago in Paris and new commitments for next year regarding economic issues, major projects, and debt swapping. The last day will be devoted to major multilateral deadlines: "We will try to harmonize our stands in the WTO meeting, the Euro-mediterranean conferences and the agenda of the European Union," said the diplomat, who considered that this is a novation that reflects the exceptional level in political dialogue.

He also announced that a new amount of Moroccan debts owed to France will be swapped, recalling that since 1996, France has handled 49 billion French Francs of Moroccan debts, including 400 million which were written off, 2 billion swapped in investments and FF 2.5 billion of the most expensive debts which were refinanced by the French Development Agency. He added that France has convinced the Paris Club to raise from 20 to 30% the share of debts eligible for swapping. Morocco's total debt to France stands at $2.5 billion, representing 14% of the country's foreign debt.

The principle of Moroccan-French prime ministers' annual meetings was decided in 1996 during a state visit paid by late King Hassan II to France.

Moroccan-French trade exchange recorded $3.09 billion during the first half of 1999. The amount includes $1.5 billion of Moroccan exports and $1.6 billion of imports.

French private investments and loans reached $165 million, ie 40% of all foreign investments and loans.

In the same period, receipts of French tourists visiting Morocco were worth $151 million, accounting for 21% of all tourism receipts to the kingdom. Meanwhile, France-settled Moroccans transferred to their home country $469 million, representing 56% of the hard currency remittances by Moroccans settled abroad.

This is the second time that the meeting is held between the two Socialist heads of government. The first one was held under Prime Minister Abdellatif Filali.

Previous Stories:
  Moroccan-French prime ministers meeting: bilateral relations, international and multilateral issues   (11/2/1999)
  France to swap new amount of Moroccan debt   (11/2/1999)
  French president pays brief visit to Morocco   (10/29/1999)

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