New Delhi, Sept 27 (KNN) India and Morocco have entered into an agreement for deepening cooperation in the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector.

The MoU was signed by CMD, National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), Ravindra Nath and Director General, Maroc PME, Rabri Barrazouka.

Through this MoU, NSIC and Maroc PME will work together to enhance cooperation opportunities between the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) of the two countries.

This move will facilitate transfer of Indian technologies and products to the North African nation.

Ministry of MSME, Joint Secretary, Alka Arora, who is leading the official delegation along with CMD NSIC to Morocco, held bilateral meetings with Othman El Ferdaous, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Trade and Digital Economy and with other related departments.

“Both sides discussed the ways and means to synergize the strengths of both countries in MSME Sector in terms of capacity building, sharing of experiences, exchange of business delegations for creating linkages, JVs and technology transfers,” according to a statement released.

Dependent on exports of minerals and ores and service sector, Morocco has very small MSME sector in manufacturing, whereas India has strong MSME sector especially in manufacturing. India is one of the major markets for Moroccan phosphate and its derivatives.

An India-Morocco joint venture in fertilizer sector in Morocco, called IMACID, was set up in November 1999.

Around 430,000 MT per annum of phosphoric acid produced by JV is imported by India. Other main items of exports to India are metallic ores and metal scrap, semi finished products and inorganic chemicals.

The main items of India’s exports to Morocco includes cotton yarn, synthetic fibre, transport equipment, pharmaceuticals, agricultural implements, chemicals, spices and manufactured metals.

The balance of trade has been in favour of Morocco because of imports of phosphoric acid and rock phosphate by India.

The bilateral trade which stood around $1.63 billion in 2010, reached to 42.04 billion in 2011.However, in 2014, it decreased and stood at $1.36 billion.

Indian exports to Morocco in 2014 decreased by 21.6 per cent compared to the previous year while Moroccan exports to India registered an increase of 10.2 per cent in 2014.