D'ivoire prime minister starts official visit to Morocco on sunday

Cote D'Ivoire Prime Minister, Daniel Kablan Duncan, will start on Sunday a 5-day friendship and work visit to Morocco at the invitation of Moroccan peer, Abderrahmane Youssoufi.

The visit will provide opportunity to examine means to consolidate the ties of cooperation binding Morocco and Cote D'Ivoire, particularly in economic and commercial fields.

Bilateral Trade and economic exchanges, which are governed by a series of accords, witnessed a tangible upward trend in the beginning of the 1990's after a long stagnation in the previous decade. These exchanges reached their zenith in 1997, when they totalled more than 472 million dh (1 USD is 9.3 Dh), representing a 19 percent increase over 1996 and 125 percent over 1990.

In 1997, Morocco's exports to Cote D'Ivoire stood at 205 million Dh, while imports were valued at 267 dh, which represents a 62 million Dh deficit to Morocco's detriment.