by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels
Last updated 93 minutes ago | Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Moroccan Finance Minister Nizar Baraka has recently held talks in Morocco with the President of the Hungarian National Assembly Laszlo Kover, with the discussions centring on plans to strengthen economic relations between the two countries.
During the course of the meeting, Baraka underlined the need to consolidate bilateral economic cooperation and to increase and diversify commercial trade between Hungary and Morocco.
Alluding to the successful transition to democracy that has taken place in Morocco, as a result of political and structural reforms, and to the economic progress achieved over the course of the last decade, Baraka emphasized the importance of boosting the Moroccan-Hungarian Business Council, established in December 2010, of implementing the bilateral investment and double taxation agreement between the two countries, and of encouraging partnerships with Hungary to “conquer the markets” of North and sub-Saharan Africa.
The Moroccan minister lamented the fact that the amount of commercial trade between Morocco and Hungary currently stands at below EUR90m (USD120m), and regretted the “limited number” of Hungarian companies established in Morocco, while trade with the European Union represents 65% of Morocco’s total.
Echoing these views, Kover indicated that bilateral cooperation must encompass a number of different areas to establish a relationship of mutual friendship and trust. The Hungarian official underscored the need for a strong Hungarian business presence in Morocco, and pointed out that Hungary is willing to cooperate with Morocco in a number of key sectors, notably in the port, logistics, agriculture, automobile, energy and water industries.
Highlighting the importance of “translating words into action”, Kover noted that Morocco is currently ranked in third place as regards commercial trade between Hungary and African countries.
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