MARRAKESH, Morocco: President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Morocco Thursday on an official visit aimed at boosting trade between the two north African countries and reducing Morocco s marked trade deficit with Egypt. Mubarak was greeted in the city of Marrakesh by Morocco s King Mohammed VI, with whom he was set Friday to chair a joint Moroccan-Egyptian commission tasked with setting up new mechanisms to promote trade. Bilateral trade grew last year to $180 million (140 million euros) with the balance heavily in Egypt s favour: Egypt exported goods worth $159 million, against Moroccan exports to Egypt of only $21 million. Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, arriving ahead of the president, told journalists here trade between the two countries could do much better than $180 million a year. I am aware of how weak trade is but the Moroccan-Egyptian joint commission meeting tomorrow in Marrakesh has been set up to define suitable mechanisms to give a new boost to commercial exchanges, he said. Nazif predicted that new sea links between the two countries under a recent accord should contributing to reducing freight costs and thus generally helped to increase trade Experts say the two countries new Mediterranean shipping line could almost triple trade to as much as $500 million a year. AP
