H.E. Ambassador Thomas T. Riley selected the Tangier American Legation Museum (TALM) to launch the Embassy's six day trade caravan to selected cities in Morocco. The tour is intended to promote the Free Trade Agreement recently approved by an overwhelming majority of the U.S. Congress (The Moroccan Parliament will vote on the agreement in October). In his prepared remarks to a business audience at TALM on September 19, Ambassador Riley stressed the potential for increased Moroccan exports to the U.S. pointing out that 98.8% of bilateral trade will be exempt from duties when the Agreement takes effect. Senior officials from Tangier and nearby Tetouan attended the reception, while Ambassador Riley held several interviews with journalists at TALM. The event was covered on television and widely reported in the press. TALM, part of the American Institute of Maghreb Studies (AIMS), has hosted seminars on The Free Trade Agreement inviting speakers from Morocco and the U.S for the past two years.