Man with a mission

Toumert Alkhalloufi says China's business activities are growing fast in Morocco Liu Lu / China Daily

Toumert Alkhalloufi's mission in life is to strengthen the growing relations between his homeland and his adopted home.

The 39-year old Moroccan has lived in Beijing since 2001, a year after his first trip to the Chinese capital, and he is just back from acting as a guide to a group of Chinese journalists on a weeklong trip to Morocco - just one of the various roles he now plays as an adviser to its embassy in China.

"Since the building of the Silk Road, and the visit of Ibn Battuta (a Moroccan explorer and traveler) to China a few hundred years ago, there has been an important bilateral relationship between the countries," he says. "And that's only likely to strengthen."

Having lived in Beijing for more than a decade, he is proud of the ways he has helped the countries draw closer together. In fact, he goes further, insisting that the promotion of friendship between China and Morocco has become his "inescapable responsibility".

Alkhalloufi had his first taste of China as a student at the Cesar Ritz Colleges in Switzerland, one of the world's leading hospitality schools. About one-fifth of those in the school came from China, and they gave him a great understanding of Chinese culture.

"I was encouraged to visit China to see for myself what this great emerging country had to offer."

The young Alkhalloufi made his first trip to China in 2000 and was so impressed that a year later he moved to Beijing full-time. As well as his embassy work, he has established strong business interests in the city and elsewhere in the country, but arguably his most rewarding role, he says, is as an educator.

He has been the dean of education for the international program at the Beijing Youth Politics College since 2004, and has taught at the Beijing Agricultural Vocational College since 2003. He also recently started lecturing at the China Foreign Affairs University, where he teaches business modules.

His work at all the schools also deals with building and developing course content to meet internationally recognized standards for credit transfers, teacher recruitment quality control and teacher training.

Further strengthening his role as a bridge between China and Morocco, for the past couple of years he has been working on programs that offer exchanges and cooperation opportunities for students between Chinese and Moroccan universities.

"It is a chance to give my fellow Moroccans the same privileges that China has offered me," he says.

So far seven students have come to China to study through his initiative.

"Although the number is not very high, I am proud of the results and will continue to work on bringing more."

He says there are currently around 100 Moroccans living in Beijing. But he hopes through such projects, more Moroccan students may be offered the opportunity to study in China and learn about the country.

As a keen observer of China-Moroccan business, social and educational relations, and with his in-depth knowledge of the economic environments of both, Alkhallouf has developed valuable insight into how best the two can work together.

"China has been making a lot of European investments, particularly in the automotive, food and financial sectors," Alkhalloufi says. "Transferring some of those operations to Morocco, which is close to Europe, could help reduce costs and increase efficiency, and also give investors access to the massive African market."

Since the turn of the century, Morocco has been looking for long-term partnerships and investment opportunities as never before, he points out. "What Chinese investors bring to the party is innovation, management skills and specialist know-how," he says.