The Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Mr. Nasser Bourita, met on Wednesday January 26, 2022, by videoconference, with the Secretary General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCG), Mr. Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, this meeting, which focused on the strategic partnership relations existing between Morocco and the GCC since 2011, was an opportunity to salute the achievements made under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and His brothers, the leaders of the Gulf countries.
During this meeting, Mr. Bourita expressed Morocco’s thanks and consideration, under the leadership of His Majesty the King, to the GCC and to the brotherly countries of the Gulf for their united and constant position with the Kingdom, such as expressed in the final declaration that sanctioned the work of the 42nd session of the Supreme Council of the GCC, held last December 14 in Riyadh, and reaffirming the constant positions of the Council in favor of the Moroccanity of the Sahara and its unchanging support for territorial integrity of the Kingdom.
For his part, the Secretary General of the GCC reaffirmed the constant position of the Council in favor of Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara and its territorial unity, considering that no solution to this artificial regional conflict is possible outside the framework of the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Morocco and its territorial integrity. Al-Hajraf also praised the Kingdom’s solidary positions with the GCC countries and their national causes, as well as the distinguished level of partnership relations binding the two parties, stressing the GCC’s firm determination to further consolidate these relations, in accordance with the aspirations of the King and His brothers, the leaders of the GCC countries.
Regarding the strengthening of the partnership between the two parties, Mr. Bourita reaffirmed the Kingdom’s readiness to continue to work with the General Secretariat of the GCC and the Gulf countries to lay the foundations for a new stage of qualitative cooperation, aimed at to devote a renewed and favorable partnership framework to the strengthening of political, economic, commercial and human relations, in concretization of the vision of King Mohammed VI contained in the royal speech before the Morocco-Gulf Countries Summit, held on April 20, 2016 in Riyadh.
The Minister welcomed the common denominators and the constant solidarity shared by Morocco and the GCC countries, reiterating in this regard the condemnation by the Kingdom of Morocco, King, government and people, of the continued attacks by the Houthi militias and parties supporting them against civil and economic facilities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
He also reiterated Morocco’s rejection and condemnation of all forms of flagrant Iranian interference in the internal affairs of the Gulf countries, particularly in the brotherly Kingdom of Bahrain, recalling that Morocco, as underlined the King at the Morocco-Gulf Countries Summit held on April 20, 2016 in Riyadh, “has always considered that the security and stability of the Gulf countries are inseparable from the security of Morocco”, in view of the community of destiny and the convergence of points of view on the various issues of common interest.
The press release specifies that Mr. Nasser Bourita has sent an invitation to the Secretary General of the GCC to pay a working visit to Morocco, the date of which will be fixed later.
