Rabat – Secretary Pompeo and Minister Nasser Bourita have agreed to hold the next session of the US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue in Washington next year.
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Nasser Bourita met Monday, September 17, at the State Department in Washington, D.C.
The two officials “discussed opportunities to expand our strong economic and security cooperation, including shared efforts to end Iran’s support for terrorism and counter its malign influence in the region,” the US Department of State wrote in a statement.
This afternoon, @SecPompeo welcomed #Morocco‘s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita to the State Department. @marocdiplomatie @USEmbMorocco pic.twitter.com/GbBJERqaZq
— Department of State (@StateDept) September 17, 2018
The US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue was first launched September 13, 2012. Senior U.S. and Moroccan officials discuss issues in four main areas: politics, economy, security, and educational and cultural affairs.
According to the US Department of State, Secretary Pompeo and Minister Bourita discussed other regional and international issues as well.
King Mohammed VI’s ambassador in Washington, Lalla Joumala Alaoui; President Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton; David Hale, under secretary of state for political affairs, and Brian Hook, senior policy advisor to the secretary of state and special representative for Iran also attended the meeting.
Following Bourita’s working visit to Washington, D.C., Pablo Rodriguez, an official at the State Department, told Maghreb Arab Press that Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara “represents a potential approach to resolving the Sahara issue.”
Rodriguez said, “We maintain that [the autonomy plan] is serious, realistic and credible and that it is able to satisfy the aspirations of the populations of the Sahara to manage their own affairs in peace and dignity.”
