India's Berggruen Hotels group Tuesday said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Moroccan FILACOM company to build three and four-star hotels across the north African kingdom.

Berggruen is in the process of setting up middle and upscale hotels across emerging markets and this is the company's first international joint venture.

The company said the first phase of the three-year project includes building 6-7 hotels across the country for a budget of 50 million U.S. dollars, while another 25 million dollars will be spent as the company increases its presence in other cities and holiday destinations in the country.

The company is looking to develop budget hotels which are all 100-room ones, in major cities of Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, Agadir, Mekens and Mohammedia. There will also be a 170-room upscale hotel in Casablanca.

Berggruen Hotels has praised Morocco strategic proximity to Europe, which makes it a strong market, and gives the business long term sustenance power.

Morocco is aiming to attract as many as 10 million tourists by 2010, increase its accommodation capacity to 160,000 beds and create 600,000 new jobs.

The project, which was launched in 2001 and dubbed "Vision 2010, " also aims to make tourism contribute around 20 percent to annual GDP by 2010.