Celebrating 60 Years
on November 1, 2018, Morocco and China celebrated the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations. On this occasion, Aziz Mekouar, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to China, spoke to Chinafrica on a number of topics, including trade relations between the two countries and Morocco’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative. An edited version of the interview follows:
What are some of the highlights of the current relationship between the two countries?
Aziz Mekouar: Over the last 60 years, our two countries and our two peoples have had the opportunity to discover, better know and appreciate each other. However, we must remember that Morocco and China were already linked by ancient relations dating as far back as Ibn Battuta’s travel to China and Wang Dayuan’s travel to Morocco [both in the 14th Century]. In the past, our two countries had strong trade relations and exchanged many goods on the Silk Road.
These relations have made many achievements and both countries have established a wide-ranging cooperation that covers all areas. The climax of this winwin-based friendship was the visit of His Majesty King Mohammed VI to China in May 2016, which led to the signature of 15 agreements and memoranda of understanding (Mous), including the statement of establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries. During this visit, His Majesty and Chinese President Xi Jinping developed a strong personal relationship, and this close friendship between our two heads of state opens up promising prospects for the future of our bilateral relations.
Last year, China and Morocco signed an MOU on the Belt and Road Initiative, which marked an important step forward in the development of bilateral relations. How will Morocco benefit from taking part in this initiative?