Morocco, Ethiopia seek to boost bilateral trade ties

RABAT, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Morocco and Ethiopia expressed here on Tuesday their shared willingness to boost bilateral trade ties.

This pledge was made during talks between the Moroccan secretary of state in charge of foreign trade, Rkia Derham, and Ethiopian minister of public enterprises, Girma Amente.

The meeting was an opportunity to examine means to promote bilateral trade relations, Derham said, underlining that the current level is far below the political relations between the two African nations.

According to the minister, trade turnover is largely dominated by Morocco's fertilizers exports.

The Ethiopian minister called on the two countries' public sector to take advantage of investment and business opportunities to further strengthen relations and cooperation.

Amente also hailed the momentum witnessed recently in the two countries' ties, the signing of an agreement to set up an integrated platform for producing fertilizers in Ethiopia.

During the visit of Moroccan King Mohammed VI to Ethiopia last November, the two African nations signed several deals, including a 2.4 billion dollars partnership deal for the development of a world-class fertilizer platform in the East African country.

The Ethiopian official is heading a delegation of his country on an official visit to Morocco. He also met the Moroccan minister of Equipment, Transport, Logistics and Water, Abdelkader Amara and discussed means to reinforce cooperation, notably in the sector of road, railway and port transport.

The delegation visited on Monday Morocco's Tangier-Med port in the Mediterranean. Enditem