Malaysia and Morocco signed three agreements to boost cooperation in economic, technical and scientific-cultural affairs following talks between their prime ministers on Tuesday, November 13.
The memorandums of understanding were signed after a closed-door meeting between Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his visiting Moroccan counterpart Abderrahman Youssoufi, Malaysia's official Bernama news agency said.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted as saying Youssoufi had invited Malaysia's national oil company Petronas to "participate directly and actively in oil and gas exploration" in Morocco. Syed Hamid added that both leaders had agreed to explore ways of increasing trade between their countries, which currently amounts to a surplus in Malaysia's favor of 86 million ringgit ($22.6 million).
The foreign minister said Mahathir and Youssoufi had also reached an "understanding in handling the West Asian issue, specifically on Palestine". "Both leaders feel there is a need for efforts to resolve the Palestinian problems and the establishment of a Palestinian nation to tackle the problems in that region," he said.
The Moroccan leader, who is accompanied by his wife and a 36-member delegation, arrived in Malaysia Monday for a four-day visit. He was scheduled to attend a dinner hosted by Mahathir later Tuesday. — (AFP, Kuala Lumpur)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
