Moroccan premier to visit China in December accompanied by business delegation

Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi will pay an official visit to China next December 3-8.

Youssoufi will visit Beijing at the invitation of his Chinese peer, Zhu Rongji.

Youssoufi is the second Moroccan Premier to visit China since that of former Prime Minister, Maati Bouabid in 1982.

A business delegation will also stay in China from December 2 through 10 to explore with Chinese peers economic partnership projects.

The two countries are expected to conclude a cooperation convention and set up a joint chamber of commerce and industry to be based in Shanghai.

China is Morocco's 11th foreign trade partner and 4th in Asia. Morocco's imports from China totalled more than 1,761 mln Dirhams ($1 = 9.7 dh) in 1997, constituting 2.35 percent of Morocco's imports. Exports stood at only 426 mln dh in the same year.