Chinese President Hu Jintao arrives in Morocco Monday at the start of a short African tour aimed at obtaining more oil for China's booming economy and opening new markets to Chinese goods.
Mr. Hu will hold talks with Morocco's King Mohammed on trade, cultural exchanges and scientific cooperation.
Trade between China and Morocco has grown rapidly, reaching almost $1.5 billion last year.
But Morocco's key textile industry has suffered from an influx of Chinese textiles. China has also increased its share of the European textile market at Morocco's expense.
Mr. Hu will turn his attention to securing oil supplies when he visits Nigeria and Kenya later this week.
Mr. Hu signed energy deals with Saudi Arabia on the previous stop of his overseas tour.Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
