At a time when most Western nations were foaming at the mouth over Russia's intervention in Georgia to protect the South Ossetian and Abkhazi minorities, it was refreshing to see several countries move towards strengthening ties and friendship with Russia. One of the first to step up was Morocco.

[Image]Foreign Minister, Taieb Fassi Fihri

One clear example Morocco's independent foreign policy stance occurred on Monday when Morocco and Russia hailed the quality of their bilateral relations and the volume of exchanges, and voiced will to further reinforce them.

This came in an exchange of messages between Foreign Minister, Taieb Fassi Fihri, and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, on the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In his message, Fihri underlined the "level of our economic, scientific and technical cooperation which covers strategic fields as evidenced by the results of the 3rd high joint commission held past April in Rabat."

The minister also stressed the will of king Mohammed VI to work in coordination with president Dmitri Medvedev to further boost relations, and efficiently implement the strategic partnership declaration between the two countries.

Fihri voiced hope this celebration would open “a new page of fruitful cooperation” on the issues of interest to both countries in an “increasingly globalized world where new security dangers are requiring a collective response that respects the international legality and the territorial integrity of States.”

[Image]Sergei Lavrov

For his part, the Russian FM stressed Moscow’s will to “go forward in all the fields for the good of our two countries, and in order to reinforce security and stability in the Maghreb, the Mediterranean and the entire world.”

Hailing the political dialogue between the two countries and the simmilarity of their approaches to outstanding international and regional issues, including the settlement of the Middle East conflict, the promotion of sustained development in Africa and the struggle against terrorism and religious extremism, the Russian official noted that bilateral relations were marked since the outset by “genuine equality, mutual respect and trust”, and that bilateral cooperation has reached the level set by the strategic partnership declaration.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news