Rabat – Morocco’s General Inspector Belkhir El Farouk and other senior military officials the week held a series of meetings in Rabat with their Israeli counterparts to discuss military cooperation between the two countries.
The Israeli military delegation included international military cooperation commander, Effie Defrin, the Intelligence Directorate’s Operations Division commander – known as Brigadier General G- and Tal Kelman, a senior Israeli military official in charge of Iran affairs, according to Israeli news sources.
The meetings looked at possible venues for military cooperation between the two countries.
The officials expressed interest in launching a joint military drill as well as collaborating in the field of military intelligence, Israeli media reports indicated.
“The officials discussed the historical and cultural connection between the countries and mutual interests in the Middle East, and expressed their desire to promote extensive military cooperation,” Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) told Israeli news outlets.
Over the same week, Israel’s biggest state-owned aerospace and defense contractor, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), inked a memorandum of understanding with the Moroccan trade and industry ministry.
Commenting on the Morocco-IAI deal, IAI’s board chairman, Amir Peretz, told the Times of Israel that the deal is “an additional step in creating a new partnership between IAI and the aviation and space industries in Morocco,” Amir Peretz.
“Together, we will build joint teams that will turn our vision into reality,” the official added. “Today, I am filled with pride that my country, Israel, is coming together with the country I was born in, Morocco.”
Under the new deal, Morocco’s trade ministry and IAI will launch a joint research and engineering center in line with a December 2020 cooperation agreement.
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