Morocco is Hungary's major trade partner in the Maghreb

Morocco is the major economic partner of Hungary in the Maghreban region, visiting Hungarian Secretary of State in Charge of European Integration Peter Gottfried said Tuesday in Rabat.

In a statement to the Moroccan News Agency "MAP," the Hungarian official, who arrived Saturday in Morocco on a four-day working visit, hailed the progress made by the kingdom in various sectors and underlined his country's keen desire to develop its partnership with Morocco which plays, he said, a major role on the international scene in the promotion of world peace, dialogue and entente.

The visit Moroccan Premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi paid last October to Budapest has contributed to the development of Moroccan-Hungarian cooperation ties, Gottfried added, noting that the volume of trade exchange which reached in 1998 around $30 million remains somewhat below the potentials of the two countries, especially in the fields of agriculture, industry and tourism.

The Hungarian official underlined further the importance of talks he had with Moroccan officials, including the secretary of state in charge of cooperation, Aicha Belarbi. He affirmed that both Morocco and Hungary share the same views regarding topical issues of common concern and are determined to bolster partnership in all sectors.