Bernama
By Azzah Mohamad Som
Morocco hopes that Malaysia, which assumed the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) chairmanship on Jan 1, can help boost economic ties not only between the two countries, but also with other ASEAN members.
Its Ambassador to Malaysia, Ahmed Faouzi, said his country was willing to help Malaysian enterprises and companies invest in Morocco as well as in Africa.
“We are willing to help Malaysians do business in Africa and the main door to go there now is through Casablanca in Morocco,” he said in an interview with BERNAMA.
Ahmad said more Malaysian companies were eyeing businesses and investments in Africa, mainly in western Africa.
On bilateral trade, he said, it stood at about US$200-US$300 million (RM712-RM1.06 billion).
More importantly, he said, Morocco was looking for more investments from Malaysia.
“What we have to do now is to attract investments. We would like to go to other ASEAN markets and help Malaysians to prospect (for business) in Africa,” he said.
Morocco exports canned fish, food, fertilisers, plastics and chemical products to Malaysia and imports mainly electric and electronic goods.
On bilateral relations, Ahmad said, they were good and that since Malaysia had won a seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Morocco was counting on it to play a role in the regional and international arenas.
“We can work together to resolve a lot of conflicts around the world, promote political moderation and together we can develop our views on moderate Islam,” he said.
Morocco was a non-permanent member of the UNSC for 2012-2013. Malaysia won the seat for the 2015-2016 term in October last year.
On tourism, he said, many Malaysians were now stopping by Morocco while on their way to Spain which is near Morocco.
The number of Moroccan tourists to Malaysia has also increased, he said.
He said currently there were no direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and Morocco’s capital Rabat.
“We would like to see Malaysia Airlines work with the Royal Air Maroc (national carrier) to bring the two countries closer,” he said.
–BERNAMA
