Rabat – Morocco and the United States are organizing an international seminar in Marrakech for March 15-16 to fight arms trafficking affecting land and sea borders. Representatives of the security services of 60 countries in Africa and the Middle East will participate.
The meeting will bring together government representatives and weapons experts from Morocco and the United States, but also from Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and EEAU. Representatives of international and regional organizations will also be present.
The seminar is organized as part of the US Department of State’s “EXBS” program, which aims to regulate trade and transfer of dual-use goods and technology such as weapons of mass destruction. It is hoped the meeting will deepen regional expertise in matters of transhipment. The objective is to develop a transit/transhipment manual, while examining the various regulatory channels for transhipment trade.
According to a US official statement, Morocco and the United States are determined to “participate actively in the joint efforts to prevent weapons and arms-related items illicit trafficking, including dual-use goods and necessary materials for the development of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.”
Because of its geographical position, Morocco has an important role to play against arms trafficking, notably by strenuously controlling part of the Strait of Gibraltar and its coastal and land borders in the South.
According to the same source, the Marrakech conference will be an opportunity for the US State Department to present its “Export Control and Border Security (EXBS)” program.
