European trade commissioner in Morocco

European commissioner for trade, Pascal Lamy is expected in Morocco Thursday on a three-day visit.

The visit is meant to evidence the European Union's constant backing to Morocco in its economic modernization efforts, the European commission said a statement.

Lamy, who is visiting Rabat more than a year after the Morocco-EU association accord came into force (March 2000), will probe with Moroccan officials means of giving momentum to bilateral relations, to respond to the call launched by King Mohammed VI for a status higher than association and inferior to membership.

The association accord provides for the setting up of a free trade area by 2012 in the frame of a larger Euro-Mediterranean zone.

Talks would cover the extension of the association accord to the trade of services, the matching of legislation and the standardization of the rules of origin, the commission said.

Talks would also deal with means of extending assistance to Morocco to speed up economic reforms and the European official would plead for the re-negotiation of the agriculture issue in the frame of the association accord, the statement said.

Lamy would convey the EU's congratulations and support to the recent creation of a free trade area between Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan, an initiative where Morocco played a key role, the statement said adding the EU deems regional cooperation a key factor to foster the liberalization of exchanges and promote south-south trade.

The trade balance between Morocco and the EU, the Kingdom's major trade partner, shows a deficit to the detriment of Morocco, and a European surplus worth 1.6 billion Euros (more than 16 billion Dirhams).

In 2000, exchanges with the union represented 66 percent of Morocco's overall exports and 60 percent of its imports.