In what may be seen as a big boost for India’s ‘Africa policy’, Morocco has decided to develop strategic ties with the South Asian nation.
CEO of Moroccan National Tourist Office Adberrafia Zouiten has said that the fast emerging North African country is eager to diversify co-operation with India. Talking to the local media in New Delhi a couple of days ago, Zouiten said that he discussed the issue with top Indian officials during his week-long tour to the country. He also said that the Moroccan tourism sector has a huge potential and it could easily target high-end Indian tourists and filmmakers.

Adberrafia Zouiten

The visiting Moroccan official recalled that New Delhi and Rabat had decided in 2015 to lift bilateral ties to a strategic partnership by including sectors, such as tourism, fertiliser, chemicals, automobiles, renewable energy and construction, in areas of co-operation. “Morocco wants to open up more and more to India, one of the emerging countries, and hopes to capture the attention of a large number of Indian tourists and make them visit the kingdom including filmmakers,” Zouiten told the press.
He claimed that Moroccans have lot of interests in Indian art and culture, especially Indian movies. So, the African nation has decided to concentrate on the tourism sector first. Zouiten welcomed the Moroccan Tourism authority’s move to open a regional office in the Indian capital. At the same time, he thanked the concerned Indian authorities for completing the necessary legal procedure in a record 10 days-time.

Zouiten explained: “Indo-Moroccan relations have been strengthened, particularly after the historic visit of King Mohammed VI to New Delhi in October 2015 as part of the third India-Africa Forum Summit.” He did not forget to mention that King Mohammed VI was the first Moroccan ‘head of state’ to arrive in Delhi and last to leave India. During his stay in the Indian capital, the king held extensive discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile, Zouiten assured the top Indian political leadership that Morocco was ready to add further momentum to Africa-India relations by becoming a key counter-terror and de-radicalistion partner of India in the Dark Continent.

He analysed the “friendly” bilateral relations from historical perspectives, stressing that ties between India and Morocco go back to the 14th century when Ibn Batuta – the famous traveller and writer from Tangier – visited India. New Delhi maintained the cordial ties by supporting the Moroccan freedom movement at the UN.

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Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das