DEPUTY Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Damas Ndumbaro, has suggested that the Tanzanian government and Moroccan authorities enhance bilateral ties by forming a Joint Permanent Commission which shall propel cooperation to a higher level,-

-along with providing a platform for supervising implementation of cooperation agreements signed between the two countries.

Speaking at a function to honour 20 years of the leadership of King Mohamed VI of Morocco at the country’s embassy in Dar es Salaam yesterday and attended by foreign envoys based in Dar es Salaam, heads of diplomatic agencies, senior govenrment officials and embassy staff, Dr Ndumbaro said the Tanzanian government was proud of existing cooperation between the two countries, which was strenghened by the visit here of King Mohamed VI.

“On behalf of the government of Tanzania under President John Magufuli I congratulate the Royal Goverment of Morocco for marking the 20th anniversary under the firm leadership of King Mohamed VI which has enabled the country to enhance deveopment in various spheres in the country and facilitating the realization of cooperation projects outside the country,” Dr Ndumbaro said.

He asserted that the historical visit by the king in the country in October last year has opened up cooperation between the two countries in various areas in sectors of agriculture and fisheries, energy, tourism, indusries, railways, commerce, insurance, health, gas as well as cooperation in scientific and cultural spheres.

Speaking at the function, the Moroccan ambassador in Tanzania, Abdellikah Benryane said that marking 20 years of King Mohamed VI on the throne was a big day in the history of Morocco, which the country is using to make a major evaluation of development realized under his rule as it is a modern country implementing the principles of democracy.

He said that each in marking the day, a message of King Mohamed VI have emphasized self evaluation and looking at Morocco as to where it is coming from, where it is and where it is heading, in tandem with raising high achievements registered and strategies for forward movement in the coming days.

From an economic viewpoint, the 20 years of the rule of King Mohamed VI has seen initiation of various development projects in the country, chiefly in strengthening infrastructure like road network, ports, airports, building of major dams, power plants and industries for motor vehicle and airplane spare parts.

Some of the big projects started and registering major successes in the period of his rule include the Tangier-Mediterranean port north of the country, the Quarzazate power generation project and the rapid transit train which has facilitated uniting various parts of the country.

The 2010 national direction strategy to enhance the tourism sector and Vision 2020 which were launched by the King between 2001 and 2010 focuses on enabling Moroccan citizens good habitats at low cost, with a purpose to attract up to 20million tourists by 2020.

On account of the two strategies, to a considerable extent they have facilitated economic growth as habitats have greatly improved and made Morocco one among the leading countries in tourism attraction in Africa and in the Mediterranean zone.

Leaving aside the huge successes in improved infrastructures and the country’s economy, Ambassador Benryane said under the rule of King Mohamed VI Morocco has been able to strengthen diplomatic cooperation with various countries including rejoining the African Union, where the key intention is to strengthen cooperation, peace and working together in efforts to bring about development.

On Tanzania-Morocco cooperation, he said it is good and all cooperation agreements signed by the leaders of the two countries, strategies for their implementation are continuing well and recently a Moroccan team visited the country to discuss the building of a major soccer stadium in Dodoma, where it succeeded to meet President John Magufuli and senior government executives.

Source: IPP Media

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