Morocco Tunisia Sign 13 Cooperation Agreements

Head of the Moroccan Government Saad Eddine El Othmani and his Tunisian peer Youssef Chahed chaired on June 19 in Rabat the signing ceremony of 13 cooperation agreements in fields relating to training and economy.

The agreements were signed following the 19th High Joint Moroccan-Tunisian committee, which convened following talks between El Othmani and Chahed on a set of issues of mutual concern, Morocco’s official news agency said.

The two officials voiced satisfaction with the level of their bilateral political ties and stressed the need for unleashing the full potential of their economic cooperation to make Moroccan-Tunisian ties a model in the region.

The Tunisian official also held talks with Speakers of the lower and upper houses of the Moroccan parliament, el Habib El Malki and Abdelhakim Benchemach.

Sunday, Chahed and the delegation accompanying him were guest to a Royal Iftar hosted by king Mohammed VI and presided over by Saad Eddine El Othmani.

Tunisia and Morocco are making steps forward to reinforce their bilateral trade despite the paralysis plaguing the Maghreb Union, due largely to Algeria’s obstinacy to maintain its borders with Morocco closed.

A World Bank report stated that, from 2005 through 2015, the economies of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia would have grown 34%, 27% and 24%, respectively, if economic integration had been in place in the Maghreb. The Bank estimated that the lack of economic integration cost the region 2% annually in lost growth. Moreover, an integrated region would have attracted more foreign investment than individual markets