Morocco, the United States of America, and the State of Israel are commemorating the first anniversary of the Tripartite Agreement, which was signed in Rabat on December 22, 2020, and paved the way for a successful partnership with great prospects between all the three nations.

This first year of the Agreement, which established the restart of relations between Morocco and the State of Israel, has seen tremendous development, with bilateral and trilateral relations strengthened in a variety of areas, notably politics, diplomacy, and the economy.

These advancements have allowed the formation of five sector-based working groups, which have worked to facilitate the conclusion of collaboration agreements in a variety of areas, including investment, agriculture, water, environment, tourism, science, innovation, and energy, through intensive exchanges between Moroccan and Israeli officials.

On August 10 and 11, and November 24 and 25, 2021, the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and future Prime Minister, Mr. Yair Lapid, and the Israeli Minister of Defense, Mr. Beny Gantz, respectively, paid visits to Morocco.

The signing of 12 agreements covering various disciplines, the reopening of Liaison Offices, the creation of communication channels between the business communities, and the beginning of direct flights operated by airlines from both nations resulted from these trips.

In the tough setting of the health crisis, the entry of Israeli tourists in the Kingdom has also been a breath of fresh air for many tourism value chain businesses, demonstrating Moroccans’ spirit of tolerance and coexistence.

The human dimension is extremely apparent in Morocco-Israel relations, as the restart of contacts between the two nations responds to the deep links and steadfast loyalty of the Moroccan Jewish community to its country and to His Majesty King Mohammed VI’s august person.

The impetus in Moroccan-Israeli relations will thus open up significant economic opportunities for the Kingdom, which will be able to profit from Israeli experience in a number of high-value-added businesses as well as technological know-how transfer.

At the same time, collaboration between Morocco and the United States, which has already been elevated to the status of a major strategic alliance with several dimensions (politics, economy, security, and so on), has been dramatically enhanced in the last year.

It should be noted that the two countries are commemorating 200 years of friendship and 15 years since the signing of the Free Trade Arrangement, the United States’ first such agreement with Africa.

More than 150 American companies working in Morocco have invested over $2 billion and produced over 100,000 employments, not to mention the Morocco Future Leaders initiative, which was developed in the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region to help young people become great civic leaders in their communities.

This privileged relationship was further strengthened during the visit of Mr. Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Living Abroad, to Washington, during which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted HM King Mohammed VI’s reform agenda, while stating that the long-standing bilateral partnership is rooted in shared interests for regional peace, security, and prosperity, and emphasizing Morocco’s key role in promulgating regional peace, security, and prosperity.

This visit also provided an opportunity to reaffirm the Joint Declaration between Morocco, Israel, and the United States, as well as to discuss ways to move forward with the declaration’s implementation and to strengthen collaboration between the three nations in a variety of areas.

The holding of the military exercises “African Challenge” from 07 to 18 June 2021 is another indication of the Kingdom and the United States’ strategic and multidimensional collaboration.

In terms of the national cause, the US, which has restated its endorsement of Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern regions, reaffirmed its support for the Moroccan autonomy idea in November as a serious, genuine, and viable solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara.

Furthermore, Morocco, the United States of America, and Israel intend to continue implementing the elements of the Tripartite Declaration and working to promote peace and stability in the Middle East in order to reach a final and comprehensive settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian problem.

It is worth noting that during a telephone conversation between His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, and Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen, President of the Palestinian Authority, the Sovereign stated that the Palestinian cause is at the top of his priorities, that he will never relinquish his role in defending the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights, that he will remain, as he has always been, King, government, and people by our Palestinian brothers’ side, and that he will continue his constructive engagement to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East region.

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On his first visit to Morocco a year after restoring relations, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz will arrive today, Tuesday, with the goal of strengthening security cooperation between the two countries.

Since the restoration of relations between the two nations last year, Morocco has received an Israeli security advisor and Israel’s foreign minister, but this is the first time an Israeli defense minister has paid an official visit to the country.

Gantz will leave Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening for Morocco, where he will sign an agreement that “draws the outlines of military cooperation between the two countries,” according to his office, and will leave the country on Thursday.

According to an Israeli official, the purpose of this visit is to “set the groundwork for the formation of future security relations between Israel and Morocco.” “We had some cooperation before, but we’ll formalize it now.” It is a public declaration of our relationship.”

Following the conclusion of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993, the two nations established diplomatic relations before Rabat severed them due to the second Palestinian intifada in 2000.

Gantz’s travel to Morocco comes three months after the two countries announced an agreement to increase diplomatic representation from two liaison offices to two embassies during Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s visit to the kingdom, which has yet to be implemented.

It was also stated last month in terms of economics. Ratio Petroleum, an Israeli corporation, established a cooperation with Rabat to explore gas resources on the Moroccan Sahara Dakhla coast.

The post The Israeli Defense Minister arrives this evening in Morocco and the military industrialization agreements are the most important topics of the meeting appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

On November 24, Israel’s Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, will pay an official visit to Morocco to sign a cooperation agreement.

According to Reuters, the defense ministry confirmed that Gantz will meet with his Moroccan counterpart as well as the foreign minister to sign the agreement.

BREAKING: Israeli minister of defense Benny Gantz will visit Morocco next week. This will be the first ever visit by an Israeli minister of defense in Morocco. During the visit Gantz will sign a defense cooperation MOU with his Moroccan counterpart

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) November 15, 2021

Morocco, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, was one of four Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel last year under US-backed deals.

In August of this year, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid visited Morocco for the first time since 2003, and in late October, Israel rescinded its decade-long travel warning against the country.

Moroccan officials define the resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel, which includes the establishment of liaison offices and the beginning of flights between the two countries, as a restoration of mid-level connections.

For centuries prior to the creation of Israel as a state in 1948, the North African kingdom was home to one of the greatest Jewish communities in North Africa and the Middle East.

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During a news conference in Rabat on Thursday, David Govrin, the charge d’affaires of the Israeli liaison office in Morocco, said that Israeli defense and finance ministers Benny Gantz and Orna Barbivai will be visiting the Moroccan capital.

“Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid visited Morocco two months ago, and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Israeli Minister of Economy are also set to visit Morocco,” he said, according to the Israeli news site i24.

These visits, according to Govrin, are part of a dynamic of expanding relations between the two countries on a variety of levels and in a variety of areas, including trade and the economy. He also emphasized the impact they have on Moroccan and Israeli society.

He continued, “We are always seeking to build and network partnerships in other domains, such as water, agriculture, and renewable energy,” citing tangible progress in scholarly, cultural, and educational activities between the two countries.
In terms of the tourism sector, the envoy mentioned the pandemic’s limits, as well as the recent debut of direct flights between Israel and Morocco.

He stated his desire for services that will assist revitalize the tourist industry on both sides.

During this meeting, David Govrin explained that Israel’s connections with the Gulf countries and those with Morocco are vastly different.

Unlike the first, which was only a year old, the ones between Israel and Morocco have a history stretching back to 1995, when “we created cultural and social contacts, in the sense that Israeli civil societies and Moroccan civil societies have maintained these relations.”

“This trait has contributed to the restart of contacts between the two countries since December of last year,” Govrin estimated.

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