Russian Prime Minister to Visit Morocco Next October

Rabat – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will visit Morocco next October, announced foreign minister Nasser Bourita Thursday in Moscow during a Morocco-Russia Joint Committee meeting.

During the 6th session of the Moroccan-Russian Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation on July 13, Bourita stressed that Medvedev’s visit takes place in a favorable and positive context following the King’s successful historic visit to the Russian Federation in March 2016, which gave new impetus and a strong momentum to bilateral relations between the two countries.

“The talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich showed Russia’s willingness to consolidate the deep strategic partnership between the two countries,” he said at the end of the meeting.

For the minister, Morocco can “constitute the gateway of Russia to Africa.” According to Bourita, Morocco is the second partner of Russia at the Arab and African levels. The Kingdom supplies 35 percent of Russia’s needs in tomatoes and 20 percent in fish, while Russia meets 15 percent of Morocco’s gas needs.

In this regard the Minister stressed the need to “promote these sectors of cooperation and to stimulate new dynamics by simplifying bureaucratic procedures and through the establishment of gas platforms, the exportation of Russian gas from Morocco to other regions, and the creation of joint ventures in fisheries to avoid quota-related problems.”

In the same context, Bourita underlined the need to open up new areas of cooperation “in the light of Morocco’s experience as a gateway to the African continent and the Arab world in the fields of renewable energies, automotive and aeronautic sectors, and other industries to take advantage of these factors to attract Russian investment in several promising sectors such as tourism and the pharmaceutical industry and to make joint investments.”

The outcome of the meeting contributed significantly to the success of the forthcoming visit of Medvedev to Morocco in October 2017 at the head of a large delegation of businessmen.