Spanish agriculture, fisheries minister starts visit to Morocco

Spanish Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Jesus Posada starts this Tuesday a two-day official visit to Morocco for talks with Moroccan officials on cooperation in matters of agriculture and fisheries.

The visit, Posada's first to the kingdom since his appointment to the post last May, will focus on the evolution of negotiations between Morocco and the European Union on the fisheries accord, that will expire next November 30, official sources in Rabat said.

Morocco officially announced that it will not renew the four-year accord, under which nearly 600 European trawlers, mainly Spanish and Portuguese, operate in Moroccan waters.

Meanwhile, Spain said it was ready to negotiate a different accord based on the creation of joint ventures.

Moroccan fisheries professionals rejected the proposal to set up joint ventures with the European Union, saying that this is a mere attempt "to carry on in a disguised form the looting of Morocco's sea resources" and that the Europeans would be the only beneficiary of this new formula.

With national territorial waters extending over 1.2 million square kilometers and with a 3,500 km long coast, Morocco has huge sea resources and harbors over 840 fish species. In 1998, sea products exports have earned Morocco $740 Million (7.4 billion dirhams), recording an increase of 10% compared to the previous year. The sector provides nearly 400,000 jobs.