“Phuket and Tangier share many similarities. Tangier is a major coastal city next to the Mediterranean. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy and we have long established relationship with Thailand,” said Ambassador Abdelilah El Housni of Morocco.
“Today Morocco has an Honorary Consul in Hua Hin, in Prachuap Khiri Khan. In Phuket, we have approximately 10,000 Moroccans visiting the island each year. This might seem like a small number, but most are considered VIPs. They all arrived on private jets and stayed at least one month in hotels and resorts across the island,” he added.
“More Moroccans are wanting to travel to Phuket, so I believe in reaffirming our relationship and hope Tangier and Phuket can become ‘twin cities’ soon. This will benefit both Phuket and Morocco,” Amb El Housni said
Governor Chamroen welcomed the idea.
“We are highly interested in becoming a ‘sister city’ with Tangier. We will draft a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) and other related documents and present them as soon as possible,” he said.
“I am looking forward to developing an even better relationship with Morocco and Phuket becoming sister city with Tangier,” he said.
Phuket is already twinned with nine other places worldwide. These are Bali, Nice in France, Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, Las Vegas, the Crimea in Ukraine, Nakhodka in Russia, and Hainan, Yantai and Xiuning in China.
In December, Governor Chamroen welcomed Xiamen Communist Party Secretary Hong Biling and her team at Provincial Hall, whose delegation sought to established “sister city” status with the Chinese coastal province Xiamen.
At last report, that MoU was also being drafted to affirm the familial ties. (See story here.)