Moroccan FM extols Kuwait-based Arab Planning Institute

Kuwait-based Arab Planning Institute has a formidable regional role in boosting growth and development among Arab countries, said Moroccan minister of foreign affairs and cooperation Saad-Eddine El Othman while visiting the institute here today. In remarks to KUNA, the minister noted that it was imminent that his country would be accepted as a new member in the Institute, stressing the view that the Institute offered viable paradigms for growth and sustainable development that should be coopted by Arab economies in their long-term socio-economic planning. While he indicated that the size of Kuwaiti investments in his country amounted to about nine billion dollars, he drove the point home that Morocco shared strategic partnerships with nations of the GCC, saying his country was working hard on concluding mutual plans with the GCC in the fields of economics, security, and defense. He said there were nine task force teams in Morocco working on these plans. On his part, director general of the Arab Planning Institute Bader Malallah welcomed the membership of Morocco in the Institute which he said would be finalized and officially announced soon. He indicated that his talks with the minister dealt in part with the possibility of the Institute training Moroccan diplomats to develop skills that they would use in their official duties, particularly in addressing economic issues locally and regionally. He stressed the point that the Institute has expanded its reach regionally and broadened its activities in offering consultations and training programs to its members.