Luis Planas expresses "the mutual interest of Spain and Morocco in improving the agri-food trade"

Bilateral meeting between the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, and his Moroccan counterpart, Mohammed Sadiki

The agri-food trade balance is favourable to Morocco, although the value of Spanish exports to the North African country has more than doubled in the last five years, rising from 419 million euros to 1.155 billion euros. In this respect, Planas expressed his conviction that Spain, the fourth largest exporter in the European Union and the seventh largest in the world, will continue to increase its agri-food and fisheries sales to Morocco.

The meeting took place within the framework of the 16th International Agricultural Exhibition in Morocco (SIAM), which is being held until 28 April in Meknes. Planas thanked his counterpart for the fact that the Kingdom of Morocco has chosen Spain as a special guest country for this year's edition, "something that fills us with pride and shows that bilateral relations are going well". He stressed that the presence of Spanish companies at SIAM confirms the good state of relations between the two countries.

He also underlined the mutual intention to "intensify the cooperation between our two governments to address the challenges in the agri-food sector, in particular those arising from climate change, to ensure food production and food security".

Both ministers expressed the good harmony between the governments of Spain and Morocco, whose relations in the field of agricultural cooperation are permanent and fluid. Specifically, the agreements to export Spanish animals and animal products cover almost all sectors. The joint work of both administrations has made it possible to make the access conditions of animals to Morocco, one of the North African countries most committed to animal health, more flexible.

They also shared their concern about the effects of prolonged dry spells on the development of agriculture. In this sense, Planas detailed to his Moroccan counterpart the investments being carried out in Spain for the modernisation of irrigation, to achieve a more efficient use of water resources and the trend towards greater use of non-conventional water.

After the bilateral meeting, both ministers visited the stand of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, where they exchanged impressions with representatives of the Spanish companies located there.

Non official translation