Rabat – Morocco’s King Mohammed VI hosted the King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain at the Royal Palace in Rabat, on Thursday, January 23.
The Bahraini monarch is on a private visit to Morocco.
The visit comes only one day after Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, met with his Bahraini counterpart, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, in Rabat.
Following the meeting, the Bahraini official reiterated his country’s support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. “Sahara is an integral part of Morocco,” the minister affirmed.
The minister went on to express Bahrain’s appreciation for Morocco’s role in preserving peace and stability in Africa.
The official also commented on Morocco’s determination to resolve the Libyan crisis politically.
“The Skhirat agreement must remain the basis for solving the crisis in Libya,” he said.
The comments referred to the exclusion of Morocco from the Berlin Conference on the Libyan crisis, on January 19.
Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke out about the organizers’ decision, emphasizing that the country played an important role in trying to solve the crisis.
The Moroccan government convened the Libyan parties in December 2017, in Skhirat, near Rabat, with the meeting resulting in a peace agreement that remains, until now, the most concrete effort of peacekeeping.
The last meeting between the Moroccan and Bahraini Kings dates back to April 2016, when King Mohammed made an official visit to Bahrain.
During the previous visit, King Hamad announced his determination to consolidate the Morocco-Bahraini relations.
Moroccan and Bahraini officials have since signed several cooperation agreements in several fields, including reinforcing security and stability in the MENA region.
The Bahraini monarch had expressed his pride in the constant support Morocco has given to Bahrain, voicing satisfaction at “the pioneer efforts” made by King Mohammed to achieve Morocco’s progress and development and build a developed political model.
In April 2019, the Moroccan Foreign Minister made an official visit to the Bahraini capital, Manama, and delivered a message from King Mohammed to the Bahraini Monarch.
The message expressed the Moroccan Sovereign’s “pride in the strong historical brotherhood relations uniting the two countries.”
