British businesses look for partnerships in Morocco

A group of British businesses will visit Morocco this Feb.12-17 to look for opportunities in the Moroccan market and for partnerships with Moroccan companies, announces a statement of the British embassy in Rabat.

The mission is organized by the South of England Exporters association, who, encouraged by the success of Moroccan-British trade this year, chose Morocco as one of their priorities. Trade between Morocco and Britain in 2000 reached more than 13,5 billion Dirhams, an increase of about 15% from 1999.

The companies represent various sectors, such as education and training, textiles, manufacturing, agro-industry and the health sector.

The statement further quotes the British consul general in Casablanca, Alan Michael, as saying "this is the first delegation to Morocco in our program of trade promotion for 2001. We have witnessed a strong increase in interest in Morocco by the British business community as the Moroccan economy opens up. More companies are ordering market research than before and more are visiting Morocco for themselves. They are attracted by the strong performance of certain sectors here, like textiles and telecommunications, as well as the needs for specialized companies in other sectors, e.g. education and training, and agriculture."

The statement further announced a visit to Casablanca by a British textiles trade Mission, a visit by the mayor of London, and a seminar of financial services.

The two countries will exchange other trade delegations in the course of the year.