HM Albert II, King of the Belgians today begins an official visit to Morocco
HM Albert II, King of the Belgians and Queen Paola begin today Tuesday an official visit to Morocco, which is in the context of bilateral relations becoming closer, bolstered by the presence in Belgium of a large Moroccan community which prints these relations a strong human dimension.
The visit, which comes at the invitation of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, is the confirmation of old relationships that have won close over the last forty années.Depuis 1964, when the signing First Convention of bilateral cooperation, exchange of both sides have continued to multiply, both politically and economically and, above all human, with the arrival in Belgium, in successive waves, a community Moroccan force that now stands at some 500,000 people, according to statistics belges.L Belgian experience of political openness to immigrants, unique in its scale in Europe, has enabled the Belgian-Moroccan to be elected to local councils as well as various community and regional parliaments in Belgium. The regional elections of 13 June which brought twelve Belgians of Moroccan origin Parliament in Brussels, confirmed a slow but certain of Belgian-Moroccan Parliament in this area where they were represented by only eight elected in 1999 and three in 1994.
The appointment in the wake of these elections the Belgian-Moroccan, Fadila Laanan, as Minister of Broadcasting and Youth in the regional government of the French Community was seen as a political gesture of gratitude to the Moroccan community, very numerous in Bruxelles.Cette active presence of the Moroccan community, which feeds the flow of economic, human and cultural relations between Morocco and Belgium, is accompanied action by no less committed both governments to raise the bilateral economic and political relations at the height of the human closeness. Also made successive visits to Brussels in 2002 and 2003 by the Moroccan Prime Minister, Mr. Youssoufi and Driss Jettou, were enrolled in the perspective of strengthening the foundations of a genuine revival of relations bilatérales.Du Belgian side, many government officials went to visit in Morocco during the past three years to consolidate the level of bilateral cooperation in fields as diverse as trade, vocational training, programs for rural infrastructure and social welfare. In 2003, Crown Prince Philippe visited Morocco at the head of an important Belgian economic mission, with several entrepreneurs and businessmen interested in the market that interest marocain.Signe traders Belgian the Moroccan market, increased exchanges in various fields, ranging from economic sectors to improve the teaching skills of Moroccan training institutions, through intercultural, biotechnology, water and environment. The exchanges between the two countries exceeded 460 million euros in 2003, up 2.7% over the previous year. To maintain and even strengthen this trend, the Walloon Export Agency (AWEX) who has an office in Casablanca, the Moroccan National Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium Business (ANPME) signed in June last, a convention coopération.L objective is to facilitate the acquisition of equipment by manufacturers Moroccan. Accompanying this movement of economic and human exchanges, the Belgian airline SN Brussels "was inaugurated earlier this year, a Brussels-Casablanca, which is in addition to daily services provided by RAM. Salon Belgica 2004, which is open from 4 to 7 October in Casablanca, Belgian companies interested in the Moroccan market, is the major event of the year in Belgium Maroc.Parallèlement, an economic forum to be organized jointly by the Confederation General business of Morocco (CGEM) and the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (FEB) should insist on strengthening the bilateral partnership and encouragement of Belgian investments in Morocco.
Biography of His Majesty Albert II, King of belgesDepuis its founding in 1831, Belgium is a hereditary constitutional monarchy. The King, the Constitution Belgian place over the ideological and religious views and political debates and economic interests, has a role of arbiter and guardian of the unity and independence of pays.Sa Majesty Albert II, who will start Tuesday , accompanied by Queen Paola, an official visit to Morocco, was born June 6, 1934 in Brussels. He was the sixth King of the Belgians since August 9, 1993, the date of his swearing before both Houses of Parliament in Belgium, following the death of his elder brother His Majesty King Baudouin. King Albert II, who was given the title "Prince of Liège" at birth, is the son of King Léopolod III and Queen Astrid, born Princess of Sweden. It is the grand-son of King Albert 1st and Queen Elizabeth. On 29 August 1935, the Prince of Liege lost his mother, Queen Astrid, who died in a car accident in K ssnacht, ECC in Switzerland May 10, 1940, at the time of the invasion of Belgium, Prince Albert his elder sister Princess Josephine-Charlotte and his elder brother, Prince Baudouin, left the country for France and for Spain. The Prince and the Princess returned to Belgium on 2 August 1940. They continued their studies until 1944. In June 1944, at the time of the Allied landings, Leopold III, Princess Lilian - who he married in 1941 - and the royal children were deported by the Germans Hirschstein, Germany, and then in Strobl, Austria, where they were liberated by U.S. forces May 7, 1945 . Because of the political situation in Belgium, King Leopold and his family settled in Pregny, Switzerland, when they left Austria in October 1945. They stay there until July 1950. Meanwhile, Prince Albert will continue his studies at a college in Geneva. King Leopold III, accompanied by Prince Baudouin and Prince Albert, returned to Belgium on July 22 1950. On July 2, 1959, Prince Albert married Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria after a princely Italian family. King Albert II and Queen Paola have three children: Prince Philippe (born April 15, 1960), Princess Astrid (born June 5, 1962) and Prince Laurent (born October 19, 1963). Prince Albert was asked in 1962 to act as Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Belgian Foreign Trade Office, a position he held for 31 years. In this capacity, he presided over a hundred trade missions throughout the world and has made many visits to Belgian companies in the field of export. To pay tribute to Prince, who during all these years, has actively invested in foreign trade, a Prince Albert Fund for the training of specialists in foreign trade was created in 1984. Furthermore, Prince Albert took over the Presidency of the Council General of the Caisse d'Epargne and General Nursing from 1954 to 1992. He was President of the Belgian Red Cross from 1958 to 1993. Besides these functions, Prince Albert has taken action in the field of urban planning, housing, protection of nature, monuments and sites and, more generally, management of the environment. In this context, he has chaired or participated in numerous international conferences. In 1969 he was invited by the Council of Europe to assume the Presidency of the European Ministerial Conference on the protection of cultural and architectural heritage.
