Italy's foreign minister visits Morocco for closer cooperation
Italian foreign minister, Lamberto Dini, will start next Sunday a three-day official visit to Morocco to examine ways to enhance cooperation between Morocco and Italy.
Dini's visit will help create the best conditions for the carrying out of several bilateral cooperation projects, Italian Ambassador to Morocco, Guido Martini, told Moroccan "L'Opinion" daily.
With trade estimated at 760.6 million dollars, Italy soaks 9.8 percent of Morocco's exchanges with the European Union. Italian investments in Morocco, however, accounted only for 1.6 percent of all foreign investments in the Kingdom in 1995.
Morocco's exchange flows with Italy witnessed an average growth of 30.3 percent between 1980 and 1991. However, this trend went downward in 1993 with a 12.4 percent decrease compared to 1991. A slight take off of 16 percent was recorded in 1994 compared to the previous year.
"We want to lay down the foundations for sound and solid ties with Morocco with a view to ensuring stability," the Ambassador said.
During his stay in Morocco, the Italian official is expected to raise with Moroccan officials issues pertaining to the North African country's relations with the European Union (EU).
Morocco is bound to the European community by an association accord, which provides, in alia, for the setting up of a free trade area by the year 2010.
The Italian parliament is among the European legislative institutions that ratified the Morocco-EU Association Accord.
The issue of Morocco's external debt will also be on Dini's agenda, the Italian ambassador to Morocco said, adding that once this objective achieved, Morocco will be the first country to benefit from such a move from Italy.
Rabat seeks to reach an accord with Rome to convert Moroccan debt owed to Italy into investments, similar to the covenants already concluded with Spain and France.
In December 1996, Spain decided to convert 520 million dollars of Moroccan debt into investment projects in the country. The sum represented 40 percent of Rabat's overall debt owed to Madrid which stands at 1.3 billion dollars.
Earlier in 1996, France had opened the way for the reconversion of Moroccan debt when it decided to convert 600 million French Francs FF (120 million dollars) into French participation in some Moroccan public and semi-public firms. In addition to this sum, France had canceled 400 million FF (80 million dollars) of Moroccan debt to France, which stands at 24 billion FF (4.8 billion dollars).
At the Political scale, the issue of the Moroccan Sahara will also be raised during the Italian foreign minister's talks with Moroccan officials.
The Italian Ambassador described the issue "as a serious wound in the region." He also voiced hope that his country will adopt a position in this issue, which he termed as "sensitive for the Moroccan public opinion," Map reported.
According to the Italian ambassador, the solution to the Sahara issue should be found within the frame of the United Nations commitments, while respecting Morocco's aspirations.
He also stressed the need for Morocco and Italy to endeavor for boosting cooperation at the level of the Euro-Mediterranean space and materialize the objectives set by the Barcelona Conference aimed at making of the Mediterranean a haven of peace and stability.