Spanish agriculture minister in Morocco next july

Spanish minister of agriculture and fisheries, Jesus Posada, will pay a visit to Morocco next July in an attempt to reactivate negotiations on fisheries, reported the Spanish daily Faro de Vigo.

Morocco has officially announced that it will not renew the four-year fisheries accord under which nearly 600 European trawlers, mainly Spanish and Portuguese, operate in Moroccan waters, when it comes to expiry in November 1999.

Representatives of the various branches of fisheries and sea industries are also against the renewal of the fisheries accord with the European Union in view of "the disastrous situation of the sector" and the over-exploitation of sea resources by European trawlers.

Morocco has proposed another partnership formula, promoting joint ventures in fisheries-related sectors such as shipyards, ships maintenance, and sea-food processing, in addition to fish-farming. The Spanish agriculture and fisheries minister, who chaired Monday in Ibiza, Balear Islands, a sectoral conference on fisheries asked the Spanish fishing fleet operating in Moroccan waters to get prepared for the non-renewal of the accord.