Home

/

News

(EFE).- King Juan Carlos on Tuesday here promoted Spanish business activities in Morocco, a country he said is a "very valuable example of openness and stability" thanks to the reforms undertaken by its monarch, Mohammed VI.

Juan Carlos inaugurated the Spain-Morocco business forum on the second day of his official visit to the North African nation after earlier in the day placing a floral offering at the mausoleum of the former monarch, Mohammed V, along with the five Spanish cabinet ministers who are accompanying him to Rabat.

Afterwards, the king and the Spanish officials attended the opening of the business forum, which is being attended by almost 100 Moroccan businessmen and 27 executives from the top Spanish firms, including Entrecanales, Acciona, Gamesa, Abengoa, Telefonica, OHL and Iberia.

Spain and Morocco have an opportunity to "create together a space of shared prosperity," Juan Carlos said. "We have before us the possibility to generate growth and employment if we know how to take advantage of the potential of our strategic association, facing the challenges, strengthening our dialogue in the economic sphere and providing a response to the opportunities that globalization offers," the Spanish monarch said.

Also speaking at the forum's opening ceremony were the top officials of the companies on hand. The forum also provides the opportunity for bilateral meetings between Spanish ministers and their Moroccan counterparts.

The president of Morocco's CGEM business federation, Meriem Ben Saleh, noted the importance of bilateral trade with Spain, which was valued at 8 billion euros ($10.5 billion) in 2012. Speaking for Spain were also Jose Manuel Entrecanales, Jose Miguel Villar Mir, Carlos de Palacio and Ernesto Antolin, who pointed out Spain's potential in the infrastructure, transportation, water treatment and renewable energy sectors. The Moroccan businessmen emphasized that their country grew at an average annual rate of 5 percent over the past decade.

In addition, they emphasized the fact that last year there were 19,000 Spanish companies that did business with Morocco and that with no other country in the world does Rabat do so much business volume.

La Prensa