King Mohammed holds talks with Portuguese president in Tangier

King Mohammed VI held a private meeting in Tangiers this Wednesday with President Jorge Sampaio of Portugal who arrived in the northern Moroccan city earlier in the day.

The king-- who is visiting Tangiers to launch a number of social-economic projects and enquire about the progress made in the execution of the projects he launched or visited during his visit to the northern provinces last October-- later on hosted a luncheon in honor of his Portuguese guest.

The Portuguese president's visit to the kingdom --the 4th since he took over power in March 1996-- is taking place on the morrow of the expiry of the Morocco-European Union fisheries accord under which some 600 Spanish and Portuguese trawlers were fishing in Moroccan grounds.

Portugal is to take over as of January 2000 the rotating chairmanship of the European Union. This chairmanship will be marked by the holding of a Euro-African summit.