Morocco, Russia to set up political consultation mechanism

Morocco and Russia have agreed to set up a political consultation mechanism to bolster their bilateral cooperation.

The decision was made at a meeting here Wednesday between Russian vice-foreign minister, Vassily Sredine, who was on a visit to Morocco, and Moroccan minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, Mohamed Benaissa.

The two men discussed ways of upgrading cooperation between the two countries and surveyed international and regional issues of mutual concern.

Sredine, who is the personal representative of Russia's President for the Middle East, conveyed to Benaissa a message from Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov.

In Moscow, the Kremlin press service issued on Tuesday a release pleading for exploring all cooperation opportunities. The release hailed the Moroccan-Russian cooperation in matters of energy, staff training and maritime fisheries.

Trade exchanges between Morocco and Russia succeeded in overcoming difficulties entailed after Russian economy shifted to the liberal system and Morocco became Russia's second partner in the Arab World after Egypt with exchanges worth $ 250 million in 1999.

The Russian official who visited Morocco part of a Maghreban tour on Wednesday flew to Algeria and will later on visit Tunisia.