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Moroccan Ambassador El Houcine Fardani.

Moroccan Ambassador El Houcine Fardani celebrates his country's National Day, which falls on July 30, and talks about the growth of bilateral ties with Viet NamThe celebration of the anniversary of the enthronement of Morocco's King is a solemn occasion to renew the pact between the people and the King: there is a political and moral contractual obligation between the King and the people called Bey'a. In other words, a contract by which the people express their allegiance to the Sovereign and on the other hand the King commits to the safeguard of the territorial integrity and the protection of the rights of the citizens.

The Kingdom of Morocco has introduced deep reforms during the last few years in political as well as the economic areas which highly contribute to the stability of the country in a region that has witnessed unprecedented events that led to the fall of dictatorial regimes.

Morocco adopted on the 1st of July 2011 a new constitution which introduced large political reforms in many areas, notably in terms of the separation of powers between the Monarchy, the government and the parliament, the increase of the powers of the Head of Government; the independence of judicial systems; the empowerment of women and the creation of bodies in charge of the protection and the promotion of human rights.

The new constitution reserved a special place to advance regionalization as a major construction reform project which Morocco launched since the royal speech of January 3rd, 2010. This reform is based on fundamental principles such as a free administration, solidarity, co-operation and the participation as well as the election of regional councils in direct universal suffrage, as well as the extension and the strengthening of their skills and those of their executives, while asserting the dominant economic role of the region within the framework of good territorial governance.

Echoes of the past: The entrance of the Kasbah of the Udayas in Rabat, Morocco. — File Photo

On this occasion, it is worth noting that the two parties have expressed their satisfaction regarding the development of the co-operation between Morocco and Viet Nam. Our bilateral relations have been steadily increasing since the opening of our respective embassies in the two capitals in 2005 and 2006. The two countries signed many agreements covering political, economic and cultural areas. They signed this year in Rabat two agreements: the first one is related to the promotion and protection of investments and the second to co-operation in tourism.

Both sides expressed on every occasion their satisfaction with the development of their relations and reiterated their willingness to further strengthen bilateral co-operation in different fields. The two parties have exchanged many high level visits. On the Vietnamese side, we can mention the visits to Morocco of the Prime Minister in 2004, the Chairman of the National Assembly in 2005 and many visits on the ministerial level. On the Moroccan side, I would like to note the visits of the Chairman of the House of Representatives in 2003, the Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs in 2006, the Prime Minister in 2008 and other ministerial level visits.

Morocco and Viet Nam held two meetings of the co-operation committee in Rabat in 2008 and Ha Noi in 2011 and three political consultations rounds. The two parties identified areas where they can co-operate such as agriculture, tourism, aquaculture, fisheries and mines.

The two parties recognised the weakness of the trade exchange figures which are below the real economic potentialities of the two countries. So they decided to lead the reflection on the identification of the problems which hinder the development of trade and bring them adequate solutions.