Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs is set to arrive in Iraq’s capital Baghdad on Saturday to attend the reopening of the Moroccan embassy in the Middle Eastern country, the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) reported.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein is set to receive his Moroccan counterpart for the embassy’s inauguration ceremony. NINA indicated that the pair will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU), with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations between Morocco and Iraq.
The Iraqi news agency quoted a statement by Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying that the country is implementing “effective diplomacy to consolidate Iraq’s presence and effectiveness.”
In 2016, Morocco decided to temporarily close its diplomatic representation in Iraq due to the security situation in the country, and move it to a safer neighboring country.
The Middle Eastern country suffered a great deal of deadly terrorist attacks between mid-2014 and 2017 after ISIS, also known as Daesh, occupied large areas of the country.
Morocco’s decision to reopen its embassy in Iraq comes less than a year after the two countries announced their commitment to strengthen and give new breath to bilateral ties.
Bourita and Hussein met in May 2022 in Marrakech on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition against Daesh. The meeting was also an opportunity for the Iraqi foreign minister to renew his country’s support for Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over the Sahara.
The pair pledged to develop Morocco-Iraq cooperation in various fields, as well as encourage the creation of investment opportunities between their two countries.
Following their meeting in Morocco last year, the two foreign ministers stressed the need for the two countries to prepare a MoU, which would likely be signed during Bourita’s future visit to Iraq.
Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram 