Holland, Morocco sign cooperation pact

The Netherlands and Morocco have signed a cooperation agreement on economic, cultural and judicial affairs.

Under the agreement immigrants will, for example, no longer be forced to select their children’s names from an approved Moroccan list and money transfer systems between the two countries will be completely liberalised.
The accord was made during talks between Dutch foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen and his Moroccan colleague Taib Fassi Fihri in Rabat on Monday and is designed to improve relationships between the two countries.
The agreement does not however cover the question of double nationality. Morocco insists Moroccan nationality is a birthright while the Dutch government wants immigrants to be able to choose. ‘We have agreed not agree on this matter,’ the NRC reports Verhagen as saying.
Interfering
Relations turned sour recently after Dutch MPs accused the Moroccan government of interfering in the Moroccan community in the Netherlands.
Verhagen emphasised that he has asked the Moroccans not to hinder Dutch immigration policy in any way and to keep its contacts with Moroccan immigrants ‘open and transparent’, reports the NRC.
Fassi Fihri said Morocco supports integration ‘without limitations’ and ‘including all rights and responsibilities’. He said the Moroccan government will not interfer in the internal affairs of a ‘friendly and respected country’, the paper reports.