Envoy points to gateway between civilizations

More than 30 Chinese companies operate in Morocco, he says. These can be divided into three groups. The first is led by the Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp, which have become important partners of local companies and gained a dominant share of the local market. The second group is involved in infrastructure and large engineering construction projects, including roads, bridges, highways, tunnels and dams. The third group consists of retailers, mainly individual Chinese traders in Casablanca.

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In addition to strengthening collaboration in fisheries, infrastructure construction, communications and other traditional fields, Sun says China and Morocco must work together in other areas. "The Moroccan government has launched ambitious plans in agriculture, renewable energy, textiles and the automotive industry in recent years. China has rich experience in these fields and has a lot to share."

China will continue to support and encourage big domestic companies to invest in and set up factories in Morocco, and Morocco should step up efforts to publicize its investment environment, policies and projects, he says.

"We are confident that more opportunities for collaboration will open up through frequent person-to-person dealings."

In addition to further strengthening economic ties, Sun says cultural exchanges are vital for improving bilateral understanding. "Exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in the cultural field are becoming increasingly closer."

There are two Confucius institutes in Morocco, and there is a high-degree of enthusiasm among local people to learn Chinese, he says.

"We are short of Chinese teachers who have a good command of Arabic or French. To improve this, we hope to provide more opportunities for local people to learn Chinese through online courses. We will also try to encourage more Chinese language-major students to teach Chinese in Morocco as volunteers."

Other activities such as Chinese movie weeks or spring festival galas have been held every year to provide local people with a better picture of the life of modern China and its art forms and culture.