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Morocco's friendship with RI growing stronger, says envoy
The friendship between Morocco and Indonesia is long-standing and is entering into new areas of cooperation to further strengthen the partnership between the two countries, says a top Moroccan envoy
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he friendship between Morocco and Indonesia is long-standing and is entering into new areas of cooperation to further strengthen the partnership between the two countries, says a top Moroccan envoy.
'We have excellent relations with Indonesia. These relations have been growing much stronger with the expansion of cooperation into many new areas in recent years,' Moroccan Ambassador to Indonesia Mohamed Majdi told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a celebration to mark the 15th anniversary of the enthronement of popular Moroccan King Mohammed VI in Jakarta on Wednesday night.
Western-educated Mohammed VI, who is passionate about people's welfare, political reforms and democracy, became the king of Morocco on July 23, 1999, after his father King Hassan II's death.
Relations between Morocco, a moderate Muslim country, and Indonesia ' Southeast Asia's biggest economy ' are set to scale new heights under the newly elected Indonesian president, Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, and his deputy Jusuf Kalla. Because Jokowi wants to boost agriculture and Morocco is the biggest producer of phosphate, the key element in fertilizers.
Kalla is no stranger to Morocco as he visited the beautiful North African country in October 2009 as a tourist.
Morocco, which received more than 10 million foreign tourists last year, has become a new destination for Indonesian tourists. Many tour operators started offering package tours to Morocco, Spain and Portugal recently.
'Morocco is amazingly beautiful. I love the country, its people, its cuisine and culture,' Ananda Idris, an Indonesian consultant who spent a long time in Morocco, told the Post recently.
The substantive change can be seen in the growing bilateral trade. According to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data, two-way trade more than tripled to reach US$278 million in 2012, a huge jump from just $74 million in 2009. In the first four months of 2014, bilateral trade reached $72.17 million.
'Yes, the trade value is small but it has the huge potential to grow further in the future with the exploration of new opportunities in agriculture, tourism and fisheries. Morocco is the best place for Indonesian investments because it is a gateway to Europe, Africa and the Middle East' Majdi said.
He went on citing examples of how both countries maintained their cordial relations.
'Indonesians do not need a visa to visit Morocco. Our doors are wide open, be it for business, education or tourism, for our fellow Indonesian brothers and sisters. This shows how close we are,' Majdi said.
Another example, Majdi continued, was the reception itself.
'I was expecting few guests for our reception due to the long Idul Fitri holiday. But you see hundreds our Indonesian friends ' businesspeople, senior officials, scholars and religious leaders ' as well as diplomats from friendly countries came to our reception,' Majdi said.
