Moroccan, Turkish Parliaments to speed up Free Trade Agreement ratification

The Speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives (parliament's lower chamber), Abdelouahed Radi and his Turkish counterpart, Bulent Arinc on Monday vowed to speed up the process of ratification of the Free Trade Agreement recently concluded between the two countries.

This came at a meeting between the two speakers who highlighted the importance of this agreement aimed at promoting trade and investments in both countries.

Radi said Morocco is "proud to establish privileged relations with Turkey, a country with a rich civilization and economic, human and geopolitical potentials likely to help it play an important role in the future."

The two countries, he went on, "share the values of democracy, the rule of law and modernity and defend international peace and entente."

On his part, the speaker of the Turkish parliament said his country grants a "particular interest" to its relations with Morocco, the first Arab country with which Ankara has concluded a free trade agreement.

He said Turkish businessmen operating in Morocco are "satisfied with the investment environment in the Kingdom," adding that his parliament supports this trend given the geographical position of Morocco.

He also praised Morocco's role in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and efforts by King Mohammed VI, in his capacity as chairman of the Al Quds (Jerusalem) Committee, to "promote peace and stability in the Middle east and favor international entente."

The Turkish Speaker who started on Monday a four-day official visit to Morocco at the invitation of his Moroccan counterpart, also denounced terrorism "under all its forms" insisting that this "phenomenon is absolutely unjustified."