Brussels, 11/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Morocco has ratified the text of the new fisheries partnership agreement between the EU and Morocco. Members of the Moroccan Parliament, who met in plenary on Monday 10 February, voted unanimously to approve the text - which will now allow more than 100 European vessels to fish in Moroccan waters again, in return for a sum of €40 million paid by the EU.
During a press conference in Casablanca, the EU ambassador to Morocco, Rupert Joy - whose words were reported by Moroccan media - expressed his satisfaction at the agreement. He gave an update on EU-Moroccan cooperation, underlining that Morocco is the only country in the region to have advanced status with the EU, and he reiterated that the two parties are in the process of negotiating a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement. Joy said that the financial aid was “an exceptional sum of over 3 billion dirhams”, in other words, nearly €300 million. The EU and Morocco are “committed to ever closer rapprochement, unique in the neighbourhood region”, he said. Joy also spoke of plans for 2014 in the areas of health, agriculture and education. (FB/transl.fl)