H.E. Dr. Lahcen Mahraoui:

I would like to mention that with Ireland, we have signed seven memorandums of understanding, MoUs. between universities in Ireland and in Morocco. We believe in the young people who will be the leaders of tomorrow. In this regard, we also are very linked to Africa and we offer around 16,000 internships to African students to come to Morocco to share with us our culture and our ancestor's culture, which has lasted for 12 centuries. We also have a lot of festivals to show what we do in Morocco including Mawazine in Rabat, the gnaoua music festival in Essaouira and the sacred music festival in Fez. The first university in the world is in Fez and was set up by a lady in the seventh century. We are doing a lot of things.

We are very close to Europe and are sharing with Europe a lot of things that are very important to show like culture, gastronomy and the imperial cities we have in Morocco. Like Ireland, Morocco is a country of tourism. We have seen a lot of Irish going to Morocco and have two direct flights with Ryanair. Ryanair is becoming one of the biggest companies in Morocco and has five bases in Morocco; one in Fez, one in Marrakesh, one in Rabat, one in Agadir and one in Tangier. We have also just granted it licences for domestic flights. These kinds of changes help us to share what we have in common, the history, the culture and the way of living. That is what they can say about what we have in common with Ireland.