Štefan Füle, the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, is visiting Morocco on the 18th and 19th January in order to discuss issues such the progress of the reform process as well as a range of bilateral issues with the new Government headed by Abdelilah Benkirane.

The Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle, it is doing the first high-level visit of an EU official to the country after the November elections and following the appointment of the new Government headed by Abdelilah Benkirane. Mr Füle will focus on important dossiers of EU-Morocco relations, such as the agreement of the liberalization of trade in agricultural products that is pending at the European Parliament, the preparations of a new Action Plan of the “advanced status”, the preparation of negotiations on a deep and comprehensive free trade area, the negotiations on liberalisation of trade in services, and the dialogue on a mobility partnership.

The Commissioner will meet several members of the Government, representatives of the Parliament and civil society during his visit. He will also sign two financing agreements in the framework of the Neighbourhood Investment Facility; one which relates to the Ouarzazate Solar Power Plant for a total of €30 million of EU funding and a second one which relates to the Drinking Water Efficiency Programme for a total of €7 million of EU funding. In addition, the visit will also be an occasion to discuss the developments in the region following last year's events in the context of the "Arab Spring". In December 2011, the European Commission adopted a new regional programme to promote political and democratic support in the Southern Neighbourhood. In its first phase actions will be implemented in Morocco and Tunisia.

Mr Füle stressed in a statement before leaving Brussels that the path towards the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, which also promotes sustainable and inclusive development, deserves full EU support. For this the European Commission has already proposed to mobilise important EU instruments like trade facilitation, a deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA), increased financial support and to launch a partnership on mobility of people.