AS reported last week in Nub News, I’m pleased to have been re-appointed Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Morocco.
We are fortunate in the county town to have a significant number of Moroccan ex-pats, hence my original interest in a country that I have come to know well and admire.
The trade envoy role promotes bilateral trade - and, by extension, goodwill and general cooperation - between the two Kingdoms. I look forward to playing my part in the post-Brexit landscape.
Indeed, I’m proud to have played a part in this already. Last year, I signed the UK-Morocco Association Agreement – a deal which for the UK replaced the EU-Morocco agreement - when I was a Foreign Office minister.
This week I spoke with our ambassador in Morocco, the Moroccan ambassador to the UK, and various Department for International Trade colleagues. One area of interest is renewables.
Morocco has a lot of sunshine. We don’t, but we’re an important part of the solar tech scene with a great deal to offer. The PM has announced the ambition of Net Zero by 2050 meaning much more domestic energy from renewables and quickly. Morocco is already a world leader with forty per cent of its energy coming from renewables – largely from the Noor Ouarzazate solar farm (the size of 3,500 football pitches!).
I’ll be meeting Trowbridge Town Council today. There is a lot on the agenda, not least a discussion of the Council’s huge debts (which I wrote about in my debut column).
The matter of the town council’s land grab from the big villages around it is linked as more houses mean more money that the TC will want to trouser. I had a virtual meeting with North Bradley Parish Council and local Cllr Horace Prickett about it yesterday morning and got the unhappiness of parishioners loud and clear. I’m sure I will return to write on this as the issue evolves.
Meanwhile, I’m pleased the Elm Grove development plans have improved. A big well done to the very energetic Cllr Antonio Piazza and to all those who listened to the concerns of residents.