The third session of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco took place in Brussels on 11 and 12 November.
The European delegation, headed by Céline Idil, Head of Unit for Trade Negotiations and Partnership Agreements in the field of Sustainable Fisheries, together with the Moroccan delegation, headed by Zakia Driouich, Secretary General of the Department of Fisheries, started the cooperation meeting in the field of maritime fisheries, whose main priority is based on the sustainability of the oceans and fishery resources.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, where, despite this, the two representations welcomed their cooperation in the sustainable fisheries sector.
"Despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on several sectors, maritime fisheries continued to contribute to food and employment security," says the Moroccan government's press release.
The second year of implementation of the sustainable fisheries protocol saw some progress, and "the parties considered the development of fishing activity during that year to be satisfactory and endeavoured to provide the necessary solutions and alternatives to the difficulties encountered," the press release adds.
The cooperation agreements between the two bodies have enabled authorised European vessels to carry out their work in Moroccan waters according to the stipulated conditions and limits.
In addition, the meeting provided an opportunity to review the results drawn by the scientific committee, which served as a basis for laying the foundations for the fisheries agreements between Europe and Morocco for 2022. The reports on the geographical distribution of access and tariffs for the following year were also examined and approved.
Finally, as an assessment of the contribution to the development of the sectoral policy for the development of the fisheries sector, both representative bodies expressed their satisfaction with the implementation of the sectoral projects financed, which has allowed them to recover 99.9% of the open tranche in their second year of agreements, nearly 20.5 million euros.