MANILA – Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. is embarking on an official visit to Morocco to sign a number of bilateral agreements with the North African state, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Monday.

His visit is upon the invitation of his Moroccan counterpart Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and will be his first official trip to North Africa as foreign secretary.

Locsin and Bourita are expected to sign the Philippines-Morocco Air Services Agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Foreign Service Institute and the Moroccan Academy for Diplomatic Studies, and the MOU on Political Consultations.

Also to be signed is the Cooperation Agreement between the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA) and Maghreb Arabe Presse.

Locsin will then hold a bilateral meeting with Bourita to discuss the strengthening of the cordial ties between the Philippines and Morocco and ways to advance the common interests of the two countries in various areas of cooperation.

The two nations established diplomatic relations in April 1975.

As of this posting, there are an estimated 4,600 Filipinos living and working in Morocco, the majority of whom are employed in domestic, beauty and wellness and skilled sectors.

Despite the pandemic, trade between the two countries also increased in 2020 totaling close to USD23 million, with the balance in favor of the Philippines, according to the Philippine Embassy in Rabat.

The embassy reopened in 2020 after almost three decades of closure and is headed by Ambassador Leslie Baja, who arrived in May 2021 and presented credentials to King Mohammed VI on January 17.

Last year, Baja highlighted the need to substantiate the two nations’ friendly relations through political and economic consultations, consular cooperation, and partnership in the areas of migration, climate change, and peacekeeping.

Baja is a veteran diplomat in the Philippine foreign service, having started in the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1986.

Aside from Morocco, he also serves as non-resident ambassador to Mauritania and Guinea, and is waiting for an opportunity to also present credentials in Mali and Senegal. (PNA)