Morocco FM visits Washington in search of solution to Western Sahara conflict

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken received Monday Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, announced the State Department on its website.

“The Secretary of State meets the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, at the State Department”, read the statement about Blinken’s program of the day on the State Department’s website.

The meeting between the two top officials came three days after The Biden administration rejected the proposal of pro-Polisario Front Senator Jack Reed, of the Democratic Party, to make the financing of military cooperation programs with Morocco conditional on its acceptance of a peace plan in the Moroccan Sahara.

The White House said in a document that the request could negatively impact the commitments of the Defense Department, in particular the policy of its cooperation at the international level.

The US administration explained, without naming Morocco, that the proposal bearing the n ° 1209 and appearing in the list of the amendments presented within the framework of the examination of the draft of the finance law 2022, risked preventing the Defense Department to properly fulfill the mission of providing assistance to foreign parties in accordance with the priorities of foreign policy of the US.

US President Joe Biden said that relations between the US and Morocco go back a long time.

“Our 235-year partnership, which was initiated with the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and Morocco in 1786, has repeatedly endorsed the importance and value of mutual respect and cooperation,” said Biden in a message to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the country’s Independence.

Biden announced that he was delighted “to learn that the recent commemoration of the bicentenary of our Legation in Tangier was an example of our lasting diplomatic relationship”.

He also expressed satisfaction “at the prospect of deepening our common commitments, investing in mutual prosperity and building on this unwavering partnership.”