RABAT - Negotiators from Morocco and the United States resumed talks Tuesday in Switzerland on a free trade pact "far from public opinion disgusted" at the Iraq war, the Moroccan daily L'Economiste reported.
At the first round of discussions, in Washington on January 21, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick described the north African kingdom as a "key partner in political and economic terms in the Middle East".
"On the sixth day of the war against Iraq, realpolitik continues," said L'Economiste, noting that the second round of negotiations was initially due to begin on Monday in Rabat, before the switch to Geneva.
King Mohammed VI last week said he was "deeply disappointed" at "the choice to use force" against Baghdad, while from early March the country saw massive, peaceful demonstrations to protest at US threats to wage war on Iraq if Saddam Hussein did not disarm.
L'Economiste said that the Moroccan government was preparing for the "post-crisis situation to safeguard its own interests".
After Jordan, Morocco could become the second Arab nation to seal a free-trade agreement with the United States.
Kuwait to post 24 billion-dollar budget surplus