Morocco, Syria to set up high joint commission

Morocco and Syria will set up shortly a high joint commission to take care of the promotion of economic and commercial cooperation between the two states.

The announcement was made Tuesday by Moroccan Premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi at the end of a meeting in Rabat with visiting President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria.

Youssoufi said the commission will hold its first meeting in Damascus.

The creation of the commission is one of the most important decisions taken during the three-day official visit President Bashar is paying to Morocco.

Moroccan-Syrian economic relations are governed by several accords, mainly the accord on trade exchanges and economic cooperation, the accords on air transport, handicraft, tourism and hydraulics, and the accords on cultural, agricultural and environment cooperation.

The volume of trade exchanges remains however low and did not exceed 155 million DH in 1999 (about $14.76 million). Morocco imports from Syria cotton, perfumes, paper and spices and exports fertilizers, foodstuffs and some manufactured products.