Moroccan British relations-Burt

Alistair Burt said in an interview with the Moroccan daily L'Economiste that political ties between Morocco and Britain are very strong and he especially appreciated working with his Moroccan counterpart Youssef Amrani remarking that the cooperation has expanded to an unprecedented range of areas so far,  including  in the  fields of business, security and foreign policy, particularly in the framework of the UN Security Council.

He  also emphasised the important events taking place in the UK this year including the Olympic and Paralympic games where some 100 Moroccan atheletes will be  participating.
 
Asked about joint programmes for tackling corruption and encouraging the democratic process he replied that the UK Fund for Arab partnership was being used to help fund projects in Morocco which supported the reform process and the level of this support had reached £1 million. One project in particular, the International Network of Young Arab analysts, had been very successful in  encouraging young Moroccans , intelligent communicators, talented and motivated, who were determined to get involved in politics. This reveals a growing political diversity in Morocco,he said. He also emphasised that the fight against corruption was essential to attract FDI and trade and he applauded Morocco's initiatives as regards reform  of the judiciary and freedom of information measures introduced in Morocco.

Mr Burt stressed that the Casablanca Finance City (CFC)project was of great interest to City UK, the main body which represents  professionals in the City of London  which is was looking to create more partnerships with Casablanca Finance City and that the British government fully supported this.

Replying to a question about  Morocco's decision on the  withdrawal of confidence in the UN Secretary General's special representative for the  Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, he said that ,whilst he understood Morocco's position , the policy of British government  was one of full support for the United Nations process, including the UN Secretary General and his special envoy. The UK wanted a peaceful resolution of the problem which was essential for Morocco and the region and he hoped that Morocco would continue to  engage constructively  with the UN process and to cooperate with it, he said.

Asked about  about the results of the Arab Spring he noted that  The region saw the first moments of change that will last for generations. Much has been done so far. Tunisia now has its first elected parliament since the 50s, with 24% of seats held by women.

Libya is approaching elections after 40 years of dictatorship.He noted the violence and disorder in some countries especially Syria but said that the UK remained optimistic for  the future.

Regarding the Maghreb he said that  it faced the challenge of strengthening economic cooperation in the region which now seemed to be a real possibility .This would strengthen the economies of the region and encourage investment and trade.It would also benefit the EU and Britain is an enuthusiastic  supporter of free trade, he concluded.