Morocco’s Laftit holds talks with Israel’s Shaked

RABAT – Morocco’s Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit held on Tuesday a working meeting in Rabat with his Israeli counterpart Ayelet Shaked, which was attended by senior officials of both countries' departments.

According to a statement from the Moroccan Interior Ministry, this meeting comes in the wake of the Joint Declaration between the Kingdom of Morocco, the United States of America and the State of Israel, signed before King Mohammed VI in December 2020.

“It reflects the commitment of both countries to resume full official contacts between Moroccan and Israeli counterparts,” the statement said.

Shaked said the renewal of Morocco-Israel relations “is likely to open up prospects for joint actions.”

The working meeting was an opportunity for a fruitful exchange between the two ministers on issues within the competence of their respective departments and the promising prospects for cooperation between the two countries, reported the same source.

To this end, the two sides stressed the importance of developing mechanisms for consultation on various topics of common interest.

Shaked, who is on her third official visit to the North African kingdom since the normalisation of ties between Morocco and Israel, also met with Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita to discuss labour and Iran.

“Our goal is to sign the final agreement next month to bring foreign workers from Morocco to Israel. We also discussed the challenges facing Iran, which are common to both countries,” she tweeted.