January 24, 2002
'16'
INDIA OFFERS CONSULTANCY TO MOROCCO IN TELECOM, RAILWAYS, IT & INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
INDO-MOROCCAN JOINT COMMISSION MEETS AT RABAT
India has offered consultancy to Morocco in the areas of telecom, railways, information technology, irrigation & power, petroleum & natural gas, fertilisers, chemicals & pharmaceuticals and infrastructure projects. India has also offered to provide training for development of small and medium size industries. Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, announced this yesterday in his inaugural address at the 3rd session of Indo-Moroccan Joint Commission Meeting at Rabat. Mr.Abdelkrim Benatiq, Secretary of State to the Minister of Commerce, Industry, Energy and Mines, Kingdom of Morocco and Ambassador of India in Morocco, Shri R.Rajgopalan were present in the meeting along with the officials from both the sides.
Shri Rudy said that India welcomes the discovery of oil and gas in the Talsmt Region East of Morocco and mentioned that India has expertise in Oil exploration, production and supply of oil-field equipment and specialised engineering services needed in Oil and Gas sector. He asked the Moroccan government to explore the possibilities for cooperation in this field. The Indian Minister termed Morocco as important trading partner of India in the North Africa region and emphasised the need to expand the bilateral trade to reach to level of US$ 1 billion in a period of two years. Shri Rudy drew the attention of joint Commission to uneven balance of trade favouring Morocco and concentration of it in a single item of phosphate, phosphoric acid and said that there is need to diversify the trade basket. He referred to the capabilities India has developed in different sectors of economy apart from traditional items since the liberalisation process began and said India provides an excellent opportunity for trade and investment.