Moroccan-Portuguese ties probed in Rabat

Moroccan foreign affairs and cooperation minister, Mohammed Benaissa, reviewed in Rabat Monday with visiting Portuguese secretary of state in charge of cooperation, Luis Amado, various aspects of relations between Rabat and Lisbon.

Benaissa and Amado studied mechanisms likely to reinforce cooperation between the two countries, especially in economic and cultural fields.

"We centered our talks on the future of our relations and the possibility to consolidate them," Amado told MAP at the end of his meeting with Benaissa.

The Portuguese official also conferred with secretary of state for foreign affairs and cooperation, Taieb Fassi Fihri. Talks focused on economic cooperation and on means to increase the flow of Portuguese investments in Morocco.

Amado also met with industry, trade, energy and mining minister, Mustapha Mansouri.

Morocco and Portugal are bound by several cooperation accords. Last May during the meeting of the Moroccan-Portuguese high joint commission, Lisbon earmarked a loan worth two million Euros for the development of Moroccan small and medium enterprises. The loan will be disbursed shortly.

Trade between the two countries recorded a 20 percent increase in 2000 over 1999. It currently stands at 174 million Euros.