Moroccan - Chinese commission meets in Beijing

The Moroccan-Chinese joint trade and cooperation commission will hold its 5th session in Beijing this January 20-21.

The session will assess bilateral trade relations and examine means to develop and diversify cooperation, says a statement of the Moroccan ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation.

Moroccan industry, commerce, energy and mining minister, Mustapha Mansouri, will be visiting China this Jan.19-22.

An expert meeting will be meeting on Jan.18-20 to finalize draft agreements in tourism, infrastructure, and environment and review other projects in fiscal, railway and health sectors. The two countries will also be exploring new area for cooperation in trade, finance, agriculture, equipment, transportation, energy, mining, fish culture, youth and sports.

Vice-chairman of China's sports department, Li Zhijiang, is currently visiting Morocco where 3 swimming pools will be built, at a total cost of $ 6 million, with Chinese cooperation.

The session will also look into triangular cooperation between Morocco, China and Africa, in conformity with last October's China-Africa forum.

In ten years, trade between the two countries has more than doubled from one billion DH in 1990 ($ 95.2 million) to 2.8 billion DH in 1999 ($ 266.6 million).