Rabat – The Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates Nasser Bourita received, Tuesday in Rabat, the mayor of the Peruvian municipality “Pueblo libre”, Mónica Tello López.

In order to finalize a twinning agreement between the municipalities of Pueblo Libre and Laayoune, Tello Lopez is now in Morocco for a working visit from May 12–20.

The mayor of Pueblo Libre expressed to the media her support for the initiatives of the Peruvian Congress, which established a Group of support for the Moroccan autonomy project, and emphasized that her travel to Morocco intends to deepen bilateral relations.

The Peruvian Congress has set the date of November 30 to commemorate HM King Mohammed VI’s visit to Peru in 2004. She also mentioned having discussed with Bourita ways to strengthen the friendship ties between Morocco and the Republic of Peru, including the municipality of Pueblo Libre.

Tello Lopez added, “These festivals will be an occasion to introduce the Moroccan culture to the Pueblo Libre residents through artistic and gastronomic events as well as works showcasing the Moroccan handicrafts.

Aawatif Hayar, the Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration, and Family, met with the mayor of the municipality of Pueblo Libre and the delegation that accompanied him on Monday in Rabat. Hayar emphasized the significant advancements Morocco has made in advancing women’s rights as well as the trailblazing role that women now play in the administration of local and political affairs.

Read Also: Morocco, Azerbaijan Share Respect for Pluralism, Cultural diversity (Speaker)

The post Morocco’s FM Receives Mayor of Peruvian Municipality ‘Pueblo libre’ appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

The Peruvian Congress has decided to create a support group for the Moroccan autonomy plan, with the objective of endorsing autonomy in the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty.

This support organization views the autonomy plan as the “one and only” way to resolve the regional conflict around this territory and aims to inform Peru’s executive branch of the proposal’s importance.

The second institutional meeting of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Peru-Morocco, held on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Peruvian legislative institution, saw the announcement of the formation of this group.

Along with other presidents of Commissions and Peruvian legislators, it is assembled by Ernesto Bustamante Donayre, president of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Peru-Morocco and member of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Maricarmen Alva Prieto, Jose Cueto Aservi, president of the Intelligence Commission, and other presidents of Commissions.

At this time, Bustamante commended the two nations’ strong legislative ties and emphasized the Peruvian Congress’ support for the autonomy plan and the sovereignty of the Kingdom over the entirety of the Moroccan Sahara. He also urged the Peruvian government to rethink its “erroneous position, relating to the restoration of relations with separatists” such as the Polisario.

Alva Prieto, for her part, emphasized “the necessity of a reversal of the confused position of the Peruvian government with regard to the territorial integrity of an ally, with a remarkable geopolitical and strategic importance, and constituting a gateway to the Middle East and the African continent.

For his part, Cueto pinned in his speech the equivocal position adopted by the Peruvian government towards the territorial integrity of Morocco, stressing the need to consolidate good bilateral relations with a key country in the African scene, the Arab world and the Mediterranean region, in order to benefit from its experience in several areas, including security governance, renewable energy, energy efficiency, water resources management, logistics performance, as well as in the agricultural, industrial and aerospace sectors.

The other parliamentarians present highlighted the need to consolidate good bilateral relations, based on common interests with the Kingdom of Morocco, while calling on the Peruvian government to formally recognize the Moroccan proposal, the only solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.

During this meeting, dedicated to the creation of the Support Group to the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, HM the King’s Ambassador in Lima, Amin Chaoudri, highlighted the initiative submitted by the Kingdom of Morocco in 2007 to end the political stalemate of several decades around the Moroccan Sahara, stressing that it represents the only political, realistic, pragmatic, and sustainable solution to this regional dispute.

Recalling that this proposal is described by the United Nations as “serious and credible”, the Moroccan ambassador said that the Moroccan initiative has the full support of the population of the Moroccan Sahara and the international community.

He said in this context that since 2007, all reports and resolutions of the UN Security Council, including the latest resolution 2654 adopted on October 27, 2022, illustrate both the commitment of the Kingdom in the political process led by the UN and the support of the UN body to the Moroccan initiative of autonomy for the Moroccan Sahara.

The creation of this “Group of support and support for the Moroccan autonomy initiative” in the Peruvian Congress reflects the firm commitment of the legislative institution of Peru to work for a strengthening of bilateral cooperation and consolidation of relations between the two countries, especially since a significant number of Peruvian parliamentarians have expressed their keen interest in joining the Group.

Read Also: Sahara: details of the closed Security Council briefing on the conflict

The post Peru’s Congress Forms ‘Support Group for Moroccan Autonomy Plan in Sahara’ appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

FIFA announced on Monday that the rights to organize the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2023 have been withdrawn from Peru.

A statement from the organization said that “if the competition is still scheduled to take place from November 10 to December 2, 2023, the Bureau of the FIFA Council will appoint a new host country as soon as possible.

This decision follows the inability of Peru to meet its commitments in the preparation of infrastructure essential to the proper conduct of the event, says the same source.

Despite very good relations between FIFA and the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF), it appeared that there was not enough time left to release the appropriate investments and complete the necessary work in cooperation with the Peruvian authorities before the start of the competition, “said FIFA.

It should be noted that last week, the body had withdrawn from Indonesia the organization of the next World Cup for men under 20 years (May 20-June 11), because of a political mess that prevented the holding of the draw.

Read Also: Gianni Infantino re-elected Fifa president until 2027

The post U-17 World Cup: FIFA withdraws hosting rights from Peru appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

It is now official, Morocco, semi-finalists of the 2022 World Cup, will face Brazil, quarter-finalists, and Peru in friendly matches next March, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) announced in a statement.

https://twitter.com/EnMaroc/status/1625862417396772865?s=20

“Following the international influence of Moroccan football and its fervent supporters throughout the world after the remarkable performance of the Atlas Lions in the finals of the 22nd FIFA World Cup Qatar-2022, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation has decided to schedule in Morocco the first friendly match of the Moroccan National Selection A,” said the governing board of national football in a statement published on its official website.

According to the FRMF, the friendly match between the Atlas Lions and the Seleçao will take place on Saturday, March 25, at the Grand Stade of Tangier at 10 pm.

Seleção Brasileira fará primeiro amistoso de 2023 contra o Marrocos, no dia 25 de março, no Estádio Ibn Batouta, em Tanger.

Ramon Menezes, que comandou o elenco vencedor do Sul-Americano Sub-20 de forma invicta, será o técnico interino.

Saiba mais em: https://t.co/BEnnTQIJYi

— CBF Futebol (@CBF_Futebol) February 15, 2023

Walid Regragui’s men will then face the Peruvian team on Tuesday 28 March at the Cívitas Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain, at 9.30pm.

https://twitter.com/SeleccionPeru/status/1619084883187630080?s=20

Morocco’s national team is the 11th-best football team in the latest FIFA ranking. The Atlas Lions are also the first-best team in Africa, ahead of Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon, and Nigeria. Egypt is sixth in the list, while Algeria, ranked 7th on the continent, is followed by Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.

The post Official: Morocco to play Brazil and Peru in friendly matches appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

Miguel Rodriguez Mackay, a former foreign minister of Peru, emphasized President Pedro Castillo’s versatility in withdrawing Peru’s recognition of the pseudo-rasd, saying the Head of State had grasped that this so-called country had no legal standing in the world.

In an interview with the online daily Infobae that was broadcast on Monday, the former chief of diplomacy claimed, “Pete Castillo made the decision to withdraw the recognition of the rasd.”

Because of disagreements with the Head of State on, among other things, the direction that his country’s diplomacy should take on rasd, Miguel Rodriguez Mackay has ended the silence that he had maintained since he left his office.

In this interview, he describes for the first time the circumstances surrounding Peru’s decision to withdraw its recognition of the pseudo-rasd on August 18. Twenty days later, Peru changed its mind, creating a sorry spectacle of its once-respected diplomacy.
“Pedro Castillo chose that course of action. In charge of foreign policy is the President. The errors were revealed by the Chancellery. I informed the president and his team, who were present at the Government Palace, that the self-declared rasd is actually the result of a plan developed by the polisario with Algeria’s assistance, and that there are about 400,000 Saharawis worldwide, of whom 360,000 live in Moroccan Sahara and 40,000 in Tindouf, which is on Algerian soil. Mackay Rodriguez questioned, “So where is the Saharawi state? “, stating that “a key condition for a state to be created is that there must be a nation and a territory.”

According to Rodriguez Mackay, “I explained this to the Head of State, who understood it and actually told him “let’s move forward” to begin the process of withdrawing recognition” of the pseudo-rasd.

His justification for his claim was that he is “a researcher and an academic. I arrived to findings as a specialist in international law, which I informed the President of. Having a thorough understanding of what Moroccan Sahara implies under international law, it would be contradictory for me to take a position in opposition “to these beliefs.

The post Former Peruvian Foreign Minister Pedro Castillo’s versatility on the Moroccan Sahara is highlighted appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

Marta Lucia Ramirez Blanco, Colombia’s Vice-President, Minister of Foreign Affairs, will visit Morocco next week for four days, meeting with Prime Minister Mr. Aziz Akhannouch and Foreign Minister Mr. Nasser Bourita.

Colombia’s support for a practical self autonomy proposal is likely to be reaffirmed, and the country might become the first Latin American country to open a diplomatic mission in Moroccan Sahara.

Morocco and Colombia’s already strong ties were bolstered by the signing of a number of bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding.

Furthermore, Farida Loudaya, the Moroccan ambassador to Colombia met yesterday César Ortiz Zorro, a Colombian congressman and parliamentarian, and Eduardo Chiliquinga Mazón, the secretary general of the Andean Parliament.

#Hoy – El congresista y parlamentario andino por Colombia, César Ortiz Zorro (@CesarOrtiZorro) y el secretario general del Parlamento Andino, doctor Eduardo Chiliquinga Mazón, se reunieron con la embajadora de #Marruecos, @FaridaLoudaya. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/qcGycoSYNy

— Parlamento Andino (@Parlandino) October 22, 2021

During the meeting, inter-institutional cooperation issues were discussed, as well as the reactivation of joint activities with the Moroccan Parliament, given its importance as one of the Andean Parliament’s observer countries (along with Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru), according to the Moroccan Embassy.

The post Marta Lucia Ramirez to visit Morocco next week, will Colombia be the first Latin American country to open a consulate in Moroccan Sahara? appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

The Peruvian Congress urged the European Parliament not to “interfere” in the bilateral crisis between Morocco and Spain so as not to “exacerbate” the tension between the two parties who should resolve the crisis in a purely bilateral manner and “through diplomatic channels”.

In a motion adopted yesterday Tuesday, the Peruvian parliament underlines that the bilateral political crisis between Rabat and Madrid had erupted in mid-April last following the reception, “in a secret way” by Spain, of the leader of the separatist Polisario, wanted by the Spanish judicial authorities.

The motion, proposed by Deputy Martha Gladys Chavez Cossio, deplores that certain members of the European Parliament have exploited the issue of immigration as a pretext to try to “Europeanize” a bilateral crisis and “evade the real causes” of the crisis between Morocco and Spain.

In the same context, the Peruvian legislative institution hailed the “commitment” of King Mohammed VI, in his capacity as African Leader on the issue of migration, his personal action in favor of the fight against illegal immigration, as well as that the Sovereign’s decision to definitively settle the issue of unaccompanied Moroccan minors in some European countries.

In addition, the Congress hailed the major role of the Kingdom in the management of Afro-European migration and the concrete measures taken by Morocco to fight against illegal migration in its regional space and against trafficking in human beings, welcoming the firm Rabat’s commitment to maintain good neighborly relations with the European Union and the countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean.

The motion notes that the EP’s decision regarding the bilateral crisis between Morocco and Spain contains unfounded observations with regard to the policies and mechanisms put in place by Rabat to fight against illegal immigration, noting that it does not reflect nor the reality of the distinguished partnership between the EU and the Kingdom, as it does not change the political and bilateral nature of the crisis between the two neighboring countries.

The Peruvian Congress recalls, in this regard, the adoption by Morocco in 2013 of the National Immigration and Asylum Strategy, which between 2014 and 2020 made it possible to regularize the situation of thousands of migrants, especially those from Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa, noting that Morocco has hosted, since 2020, the African Migration Observatory, based in Rabat, in recognition of the fundamental role of Morocco and its experience in the field of migration.

The resolution notes that Morocco’s cooperation in the field of migration has made it possible to abort more than 14,000 illegal immigration attempts, to dismantle 5,000 networks active in this area, to rescue more than 80,500 migrants at sea and to prevent countless intrusion attempts. Morocco is a responsible actor and has the right to demand that the responsibility for dealing with the migratory phenomenon be shared in the same spirit of commitment and mutual trust with its neighbors, concludes the Peruvian Congress.

The post Peruvian Parliament Condemns European Parliament Resolution On Morocco appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.