President Fox official visit to Morocco a historic opportunity, ambassador

The official visit of President Vincente Fox to Morocco, to start on Friday, is "a historic opportunity" to further enhance bilateral relations in all areas, said Mexican ambassador to Morocco, Juan Antonio Mateos Cicero.

Mateos Cicero told the Moroccan news agency MAP the visit aims to make of Morocco and Mexico "development partners on the international market" and bolster their cultural relations, recalling the visit paid by King Mohammed VI last November to Mexico gave a new impetus to the relations.

The ambassador said the visit is also an opportunity for the foreign departments of the two countries to convene a follow up meeting regarding the decision to create a Moroccan-Mexican joint commission. On culture, the Mexican diplomat highlighted the importance of the cultural cooperation accord signed last February in Rabat, for the initiative is likely to foster mutual knowledge between intellectuals of the two countries. The businessmen accompanying the Mexican president will explore with Moroccan peers means to expand economic cooperation fields and encourage partnership between the private sectors of the two countries, the ambassador said.

Mateos Cicero said Moroccan enterprises invested, between 1994 and 2004, some 131.6 million dollars, which puts Morocco third, after Ethiopia and Congo, among African countries investing in this central American nation. Moroccan-Mexican trade exchanges stood at 585.8 million Dhs, around 58 million dollars, in 2003.