The Free Trade Agreement offers "enormous opportunities" for both countries

The free trade agreement (FTA) in force between Morocco and the United States since 2006, offers "enormous opportunities" for free trade and investment for both countries as evidenced by the volume of bilateral free trade which totaled over $ 2.6 billion in 2010 says Assistant Secretary of U.S. Department of Commerce (USDC), Mr. Suresh Kumar.

"The free trade agreement with Morocco and offers enormous opportunities at all levels especially as the Kingdom by its strategic geographical position is a gateway to the entire region Middle East and North Africa and to Europe, "said in an interview with MAP, Mr. Kumar, who began Wednesday a three-day visit to Morocco at the head of a U.S. free trade delegation comprised of 26 Businessmen and representatives of 18 large U.S. companies operating in various sectors.

For Mr. Kumar, who is also the Director-General of the Foreign Commercial Service at the USDC, Morocco presents opportunities "huge" investment in several sectors for U.S. companies, especially as the Kingdom is the only country African bound by a free trade agreement with the United States.

This explains the presence among the business delegation of representatives of one of the largest U.S. companies, like "Cisco", "Lockheed Martin", "Motorola" and "General Dynamics", is there adding that several companies operating in the sector of solar energy, renewable energy, engineering and construction are also part of this delegation.

The 18 U.S. companies and will meet 75 of their Moroccan counterparts to identify the needs of each others, the objective being to go out with collaborative projects and joint investment.

It is in this sense that 120 individual meetings are scheduled between the 18 U.S. firms and their Moroccan counterparts.

For Mr. Kumar, these meetings also provide an opportunity for Moroccan companies to explore investment opportunities in the U.S. and with U.S. firms, claiming that the U.S. market remains "one of the most open and promising in the world. "

"We strongly encourage Moroccan companies to seize this opportunity, because with a population ten times double that of Morocco. The U.S. market offers huge opportunities and potential" he said.

He added "Our expectation is that our partners benefit as much as we trade through free trade agreements, because we want to see so many Moroccan products reach the U.S. market as American goods exported to Morocco."

The U.S. official welcomed the increase in 2010 of Moroccan exports to the U.S. by almost 50 PC compared to 2009, describing the result as "impressive".

Indeed, Moroccan exports to the U.S. market reached $ 685 million in 2010, thanks to the expansion of export markets and import sources on both sides.

Free trade between Morocco and the United States amounted in turn to more than $ 2.6 billion in 2010, against 2.1 billion in 2009, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce.