Morocco-Guinea commission opens

The Moroccan-Guinean high joint commission started Tuesday in Rabat its fifth session to debate means to upgrade cooperation between the two African nations.

The meeting, held April 30 through May 2, is co-chaired by Moroccan foreign affairs and cooperation minister, Mohamed Benaissa and Ms. Camara Hadja Mahawa Bangoura, Guinean minister to the Presidency in charge of foreign affairs.

Benaissa said the meeting will help assess bilateral cooperation and identify means to give a new impetus to these ties.

Relations between Morocco and Guinean have always been based on friendship and brotherhood, Benaissa said at the opening of the session, recalling that bilateral cooperation is governed by several accords.

Benaissa lauded the gains scored since the holding of the 4th session of the commission in 1997, particularly in the realms of mines, small and medium enterprises promotion, fisheries, health, transport, handicraft, higher education and human rights.

For her part, Ms. Camara Hadja Mahawa Bangoura deplored that bilateral cooperation is short of the political ties binding Morocco and Guinea.

She called for diversifying cooperation through targeting well identified sectors and associating the private sector.

The commission will debate cooperation, particularly in the realms of tourism, handicraft, culture, higher education, mines and industry.