In order to strengthen the bilateral partnership in the maritime sector, the Moroccan naval vessel LC Arrahmani (501) and the Indian naval vessel Sumedha conducted joint naval exercises earlier this week. These manoeuvres included various types of activities, such as communication drills, tactical exercises and air operations, reports Morocco World News.
According to a statement from the Indian Embassy in Rabat, these exercises represent the “commitment of both nations to strengthen maritime security and foster friendship”. The maritime activities are also aimed at “promoting the exchange of best practices to address common threats and advanced maritime operations in the future, as well as developing capabilities at sea,” the statement added.
This operation comes just a year after a similar maritime exercise between the Indian naval vessel Tarkash and the Moroccan Royal Naval Ship Hassan-II.
“These regular maritime partnership exercises between the Indian Navy and the Royal Moroccan Navy reflect the commitment towards continued strengthening of defence cooperation between the two countries,” the Indian Embassy in the Kingdom stresses.
Morocco and India maintain excellent diplomatic relations and regularly express their willingness and commitment to further boost bilateral ties in various fields, including trade.
According to figures provided by the deputy head of Morocco’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi, Errachid Alaoui Mrani, to the New Indian Express newspaper, the joint volume of trade between the two countries has exceeded 4.1 billion dollars.
Among the products that India imports most from Morocco are mineral phosphate and phosphoric acid. In fact, at the beginning of the year, Rabat agreed with New Delhi to supply the Asian country with 1.7 million tonnes of phosphate fertilisers by 2023.
For its part, India has increased its military exports to Morocco, as well as to other African countries. It also supplies the Kingdom with mobile phones, textiles and petroleum products.
As a result of the good business relations between the two countries, many Indian companies have moved to Morocco, including Tata Motors, Mahandria – both specialising in the automotive sector, a booming industry in Morocco – Samta, which works with metals, and HCL, which specialises in offshoring.
“The strategic partnership between Morocco and India is based on trade, investment, defence, security, cultural and people-to-people ties and the joint fight against global challenges,” Mrani said.
The desire to further intensify bilateral cooperation in all aspects was reiterated by the Foreign Ministers of both nations in a recent phone call. Both Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and his Indian counterpart Subramaniam Jaishankar pledged to boost bilateral relations in a number of areas, exploring ways to further enhance the partnership to “an even more ambitious level”.
In addition to maintaining the partnership in areas where the two countries already cooperate, the two ministers called for increased collaboration in other areas such as science and technology in order to achieve results that will benefit both partner countries.
Source : Atalayar