Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia: Relations between Latvia and Morocco

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Relations between Latvia and Morocco [19 Jun 2007]

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Latvia and Morocco enjoy friendly bilateral relations. The significant geographic distance has not encouraged these to become more dynamic, however, development and future potential can be seen. Latvia and Morocco co-operate within international organisations. By joining the European Union, Latvia also joined in the dialogue of co-operation with Morocco under the co-operation framework between the European Union and countries of the Mediterranean region. This opens opportunities for both countries to co-operate in the economic area because Moroccan co-operation with EU countries is especially intensive.

Diplomatic relations

Morocco recognised the independence of the Latvian state on 24 September 1991. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on 5 October 1992.

Ambassador of Morocco in Latvia:

Abdelmalek Jeddaoui (30 June 1998 - 15November 2000) residing in Stockholm
Menouar Alem (21 November 2001 - 6 August 2003) residing in Denmark
Aicha El Kabbaj (5 April 2004) residing in Denmark

Moroccan interests have been represented in Latvia since 30 October 2001 by Honorary Consul Valery Maligin.

Rolands Lappuķe is the Latvian Ambassador to Morocco since 2003 (residing in Paris)

Latvia is also represented in Morocco by two Honorary Consuls: Hicham Tazi - in Casablanca and by Toufic Kawar -in Rabat.

Meetings

On 8 September 2000, President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga of Latvia met with the Prince of Morocco, Moulay Rachid, during the UN Millennium Assembly in New York.
On 12 July 2006, under-secretary of state Astra Kurme met with Foreign Ministry of Morocco Director General in European affairs, Mohamed Lofti Aouad, while attending a ministers of EU and African countries conference in Rabat on the topic of migration and development.
On 27 November 2006, while attending the 8^th conference of foreign ministers of countries of the European Union and the Mediterranean region in Tampere, Finland, under-secretary of state Edgars Skuja met with Taib Fassi Fihri, the foreign minister appointed by the King of Morocco,
From 8-9 February 2007, the Director-General of bilateral relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation of the Kingdom of Morocco, Youssef Amrani (YA) visited Riga. State secretary Normans Penke and Director-General Youssef Amrani signed the Protocol on establishing a mechanism for political consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation of the Kingdom of Morocco.
From 13 - 16 May 2007, President Vike-Freiberga was on an official State Visit to the Kingdom of Morocco.

Agreements

On 19 May 1999, a bilateral agreement on air transport was signed between the Governments of the Republic of Latvia and the Kingdom of Morocco, coming into force on 14 April 2003.

On 31 May 2005, a Protocol to the Agreement of European and the Mediterranean countries establishing an association between European communities and their member countries on the one part, and the Kingdom of Morocco on the other part, to take into account the accession of the new member countries to the European Union, indefinite term, various types of co-operation, temporary application as of 1 May 2004.

Economic co-operation

Latvian economic relations with Morocco

The main export goods from Latvia are plant products (~52% of total export. This export position is mainly made up by a mixture of wheat and rye), wood, and wood products (37%). The main import goods from Morocco are animals and animal food ( ~76% of total import, mainly sardines and sardinellas and similar type of fish) and plant products (~12.5%).

Trade (according to data of the Central Statistics Service of the Republic of Latvia) 2006

Export

1. Lithuania - 626,740,647 EUR USD or 14.11% of total Latvian export

2. Estonia - 538,234,608 EUR or 12.12%

3. Germany - 447,816,470 EUR or 10.07%

4. Russia - 415,342,445 EUR or 9.37%

5. Great Britain - 352,497,937 EUR or 7.93%

��

76. Morocco - 1,415,685 EUR or 0.03%

Imports

1. Germany - 1,278,230,457 EUR or 15.02 % of total Latvian import

2. Lithuania - 1,090,232,705 EUR or 12.81 %

3. Russia - 710,081,879 EUR or 8.32 %

4. Estonia - 642,801,715 EUR or 7.56 %

5. Poland - 596,234,160 EUR or 7.01 %

...

56. Morocco - 2,765,497 EUR or 0.03 %

Latvia has a negative trade balance with Morocco in an amount of - 1,350,000.EUR

Main export goods to Morocco by type of goods 2006

Type of goods

MEUR

Percentage of total export

Total

1,415,685

100 %

Animals and farm animal produce

- butter - 63 %
- cheese (Cheddar) - 37 %

1,111,042

78.48 %

Minerals

- peat - 100 %

167,538

11.83 %

Textile materials and textile articles

- clothing materials, broader than 30 cm - 98 %

75,380

5.32 %

Main import goods from Morocco by type of goods in 2006

Type of goods

MEUR

Percentage of total import

Together

2,765,407

100 %

Food items

- fish, seafood etc. flour and grain - 100 %

2,611,059

94.42 %

Animal and farm animal produce

- frozen sardines - 98 %

148,231

5.36 %

Year

Export

Import

1999*

267,709

235,751

2000*

608,087

105,988

2001*

918,386

141,653

2002*

1,508,986

206,590

2003*

2,971,435

755,908

2004*

1,168,258

242,609

2005

1,701,021

407,803

2006

1,415,685

2,765,407