Jordan, Morocco eye further cooperation

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and his Moroccan counterpart Abdelilah Benkirane on Saturday discussed means to boost cooperation in extracting and marketing phosphate. 

Jordan and Morocco are among the major producers and exporters of this product. 

Ensour and Benkirane, who began a three-day visit to the Kingdom on Saturday, examined prospects for cooperation in the field of renewable energy, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The two premiers agreed to work on expanding ties in economic and commercial fields, as well as in tourism, pharmaceuticals and information technology.

The joint Jordanian-Moroccan commercial volume is around $400 million.

Ensour commended Morocco’s reforms, adding that His Majesty King Abdullah and Moroccan King Mohammed VI had seized “a historic opportunity” to carry out reforms.

He said both countries had forged ahead with democracy and expansion of public freedoms, noting that reform is a process, not a decision that has a beginning and an end.

Ensour voiced hope that a meeting of the Joint Jordanian-Moroccan Higher Committee due to take place in Rabat would culminate in more joint ventures.

Benkirane said Jordan and Morocco, which are bound by a “special relationship”, are facing difficult circumstances that can be overcome by building on democratic reform and addressing the challenge of maintaining the unity of the Arab and Islamic world.

The Moroccan premier lauded Jordan’s political and socio-economic reforms.

Ensour held a lunch banquet in honour of Benkirane.