The British Film Minister, Sion Simmon and the Moroccan Communication Minister Khalid Naciri signed last week an agreement to boost bilateral cooperation in the film making industry.

The agreement was signed between the two countries to provide film makers with access to range of benefits including tax breaks, sources of funding and practical support. This agreement, also, aims to allow UK films to access distribution networks in Morocco and North Africa. The Moroccan Minister said “The agreement is a landmark in the evolution of Moroccan-British relations; It highlights long-standing relations between the two countries in the field of movie production.
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For his part, the British Minister underlined that the agreement is “good news” for the two countries noting that the agreement will give a new impetus to bilateral relations in the movie making industry. “The conclusion of the agreement in ideal conditions witnesses the excellence of relations between the two countries,” he added.

The UK film and video industry employs around 35,000 people with 21,000 working directly in production. The industry produced 111 feature films (with budgets of $ 709k+) in 2008 with a UK production value of $912 million. In 2007 it earned $ 1.6 billion million in export income, of which $ 1 billion was royalties and $635 million production services.