Morocco was one of the first African countries to establish diplomatic relations with Cameroon when the latter obtained independence on January 1, 1960 and since then cooperation has grown from strength to strength.

In recent years economic ties have grown rather exponentially, at one time almost dwarfing the once very buoyant political cooperation.

So it was quite a weighty moment when Mr Salaheddine Mezouar, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Special Envoy of King Mohammed V1 came calling at State House last Friday afternoon.

Accompanied by the Moroccan Ambassador to Cameroon, Lahcen Saile and Mr Abderahir Kadmiri, Director-General of the International Cooperation Agency of Morocco, the trio were immediately led to the third floor office of the Head of State which lasted some 70 minutes.

The first remarks to the press by Mr Mezouar after the audience were to acknowledge the honour he had been given to convey his King’s verbal message to the Cameroonian President.

“I am here to confirm the good state of relations between Morocco and Cameroon begun right from the time King Hassan II was in power up till know”, before admitting that it was time to give a new orientation to these relations. He said the new vision in Cameroon-Morocco relations suggested by the King required exploring new areas of cooperation far beyond the economic focus of today.

“Cameroon has always been on Morocco’s side and vice-versa; so we thing we can address some of the challenges of today such as the threat of terrorism together.” Friendly countries must work together, he emphasized. This excellent state of relations is very visible on the economic front.

Morocco has recently stepped up its stakes in key investment areas in Cameroon with a very noticeable presence in the banking sector with the buying over of the then SCB which is today the Attijariwafa.

It also recently opened a cement factory in Douala with a capacity of about one million tonnes annually and is also present in the service industry with the concession it has over the running of the water distribution company, the Camerounaise des Eaux, CDE.

In 2011, the total value of trade exchanges stood at about USD 48 Million; but that figure must have gone up considerably with new investments and opportunities.

Cameroon sell most timber, cotton, bananas, coffee and cocoa to Morocco while it buys papers and cartons, fertilizers, shoes, clothing and canned foods from the latter.

At the 2nd meeting of the Grand Mixed Commission between the two countries held in September 2012, some five cooperation agreements were signed in the area of higher education, sports and the development of handicrafts and small and medium-size enterprises.