A delegation from the Kingdom of Morocco headed by the Director of International Development is currently here in St Vincent and the Grenadines meeting with Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and Cabinet members.
Among the areas of further co-operation being discussed are educational opportunities, agricultural and technical assistance to build, according to Dr. Gonsalves, they are developing “a roadmap for relations over the next three to five years.”
Speaking on NBC’s face to face programme earlier today, the Prime Minister said the Government of Morocco will ship 500 tonnes or 10 thousand sacks of fertilizer to this country for 2023.
“Once we finalise this with the Moroccans, no farmer would be spending money on fertilizer next year…which is a big boost to them,” Dr. Gonsalves said. This arrangement by the Moroccan Government is in addition to the 40 thousand sacks of urea received under the Petro Caribe agreement by the Government of Venezuela and Dr. Gonsalves said these initiatives auger well for farmers going forward.
The Prime Minister also noted that technical assistance is currently being provided through soil fertility testing, “the Moroccans are here already doing some soil fertility testing, we need to ramp that up so that the farmers feel the impact of that technical work…that is critical work,” Dr. Gonsalves insisted.
In the area of education, Dr. Gonsalves said instead of the usual partial scholarships being currently provided, the Government is negotiating fully funded scholarships and up to 20 fully funded scholarships are expected for 2023.