Oman and Morocco set up joint business council

An Omani-Moroccan business council has been set up under an accord concluded in Muscat on Wednesday between the Casablanca and Oman chambers of commerce and industry.

The accord, initialed during the visit of a large Moroccan delegation to Oman, provides for the promotion of investment partnership between the two countries' businessmen. It also stipulates measures to consolidate contacts between the two chambers through the exchange of information and expertise and the holding of economic events and trade exhibitions in the two countries.

The two sides will endeavor to publicize laws regulating investments in either country, promote joint ventures and consolidate cooperation in matters of training and technology transfer.

Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance Fathallah Oualalou, who is leading the Moroccan delegation and who attended the signing ceremony, said the settlement of development-related problems in the Arab world lies in Arab cooperation and complementarity.

After he surveyed the various phases of the economic development process in Morocco and the efforts to overcome the financial imbalance, enhance Moroccan enterprises' competitiveness, boost exports, promote domestic and foreign investments and reactivate tourism, Oualalou proposed that Morocco and Oman sign an accord on the encouragement and guarantee of investments.

Such an accord, he said, would create the appropriate frame for investors and would contribute to establishing genuine economic cooperation between the two states.