Spain-Morocco: Economic agenda in bilateral summit

Four years after a high-level meeting between the governments of Spain and Morocco, Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy is scheduled to arrive in Rabat today with seven ministers in his government to participate in a bilateral summit on economic relations and trade exchanges between the two countries, according to Spanish government sources. In the morning Rajoy is scheduled to chair with his Moroccan counterpart Abdelilah Benkirane an entrepreneurial forum organized by the business unions of the two countries. Some 50 Spanish entrepreneurs are expected at the meeting. Other issues to be discussed at the bilateral talks include cooperation on immigration and the fight against drug trafficking, the issue of western Sahara, and the security emergency in Sahel with a possible African military intervention in northern Mali. Also on the agenda are sea and air connections between Spain and Morocco and relations between the Maghreb country and EU. After meeting with Benkirane, Rajoy will be received by the king of Morocco, Mohamed VI. In the first semester of 2012, Spain's exports to Morocco grew 20% making the Maghreb country the second main non-EU market after the United States.