Dignitaries from Morocco’s agricultural industry flew in to Berlin to celebrate the success of the North African country at this year’s show.
Moroccan agriculture minister Aziz Akhnouch said: “We are very privileged to be the partner country. It is an opportunity that offers us a lot of possibilities.
“The things Morocco now needs to achieve are a better regulation of our water resources, the protection of consumer health and new logistical and infrastructure efforts. But we already benefit from geographical proximity to a huge international market, and our export volumes are constantly growing. Our country intends to double the agricultural sector’s share of GDP by 2015.”
Abderrazak Mouisset, president of the Association Marocaine des Producteurs et Exportateurs de Fruits et Légumes (Apefel), said: “This partnership with Fruit Logistica is solid proof of our success in the European market, and evidence of Morocco’s reliability, respect for keeping its business promises and concern with building lasting relationships.”
“Fruit Logistica was an outstanding success for our 35 exhibitors”, said Abdelkarim Abouyoub, head of the Agribusiness Department of the Moroccan Centre for Export Promotion. “The North African country will be able to produce more lettuce and fresh herbs for export in the future.” He said that 3,000 trade visitors from around the world visited the Moroccan stand, primarily from Russia, France, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the US, including importers from major French retail groups like Auchan and English supermarket chains like Tesco and Sainsbury's. “We've established even more contacts than last year,” Abouyoub added.
