Belgium to grant legal stay documents to 10,000 Moroccans

Some 10,000 Moroccans will be granted legal stay documents by Belgium which has adopted recently a new law on illegal residents, said Belgian foreign minister, Louis Michel, who paid last week a four-day visit to Morocco.

In an interview with Moroccan 2nd tv channel "2M," Michel, who is also deputy-premier, said the law provides for some conditions under which 40,000 aliens living illegally in Belgium, out of a total of 60,000, will be given legal stay documents. An estimated 20,000, including 3,000 Moroccans, will have to leave the European country, he added.

In another statement to MAP, the Belgian official had stressed his country's attachment to the free movement of goods and people, explaining that the creation of a free-trade zone, in south Mediterranean countries is important for Moroccan farming goods.

He added that his talks with Moroccan officials covered several issues, including emigration, foreign investments and problems related to the custody of children born to marriages between Moroccans and Belgians. According to a Belgian daily, the foreign minister raised with Moroccan authorities some thirty cases. A joint commission is looking into the case of these children whose custody was granted by the Belgian courts to the Belgian mother but are actually living with their Moroccan father.

Louis Michel met on Friday with King Mohammed VI. He also chaired over the signing ceremony of an agreement under which Belgium extends $ 3.42 million to support a drinking water supply project in the southwestern region of Agadir.