Romanian defence minister, Moroccan foreign minister discuss military collaboration, Black Sea situation

National Defence Minister Angel Tilvar on Wednesday met Kingdom of Morocco Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates Nasser Bourita, in a context in which the high officials discussed the situation in the Black Sea region, Africa and the Middle East, as well as the efforts of both sides to ensure regional stability.

According to a National Defence Ministry (MApN) press release, Minister Tilvar highlighted Romania's firm desire to develop cooperation with African states, in the context of Romania's launching the National Strategy for Africa, called "Romania - Africa: Partnership for the future through peace, development and education, a vision framework document."

The Romanian minister said that, starting from the solid traditional foundations, Romania intends to exploit the potential for cooperation in various areas with the Kingdom of Morocco.

The official pointed out that the Kingdom of Morocco is one of Romania's main trading partners in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, with a total trade turnover exceeding 1.3 billion dollars last year, with a trade balance in favour of Romania, which exports to Morocco cars, parts and components for the automotive industry, as well as other industrial products and equipment for energy generation, transmission and distribution, industrial automation and telecommunications equipment. Also, at the moment almost 2,000 Moroccan citizens study annually in Romania, which creates important premises for strengthening the cooperation between the two countries.

In this context, Angel Tilvar stressed the importance of the signing, for the first time, of the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco on cooperation in the military and technical areas, a document that will provide the legal framework for cooperation in areas of mutual interest such as defence industry, training of personnel in military institutions, training and exercises, military medicine and cyber security.

In his turn, Minister Bourita mentioned the importance that Morocco attaches to the relation with Romania and stressed the need to reinvigorate dialogue at all levels, as well as the need to identify new areas of cooperation.