Aawatif Hayar, the minister of solidarity, social integration, and family in Morocco, met with Mariam Bint Ali Bin Nasser Al Misnad, the minister of social development and family, on Monday in Rabat to discuss ways to improve their bilateral ties.

On this occasion, Hayar emphasized the good ties between the two nations, pointing out that the Kingdom of Morocco has made significant strides in building a society founded on the defense and advancement of human rights under the wise leadership of HM King Mohammed VI.

In this connection, she stated that the government’s 2021–2026 program vowed to raise women’s activity rates from the current 20% to 30% by 2026. In a similar vein, she continued, the National Committee for Gender Equality and Women’s Advancement has strengthened the institutional framework for equality. She referred to the third government plan for equality 2022–2026 as well as the “Jisr” strategy 2022–2026 towards a comprehensive, innovative, and sustainable social development.

Mariam Bint Ali Bin Nasser Al Misnad presented a wide range of areas of partnership related to women, children, people with disabilities, and the family, reviewing the actions of some centers that provide social services. She also reaffirmed the historical scope of relations between Qatar and Morocco.

In this regard, she emphasized the significance of the productive family, as well as local and national products, to improve the economic empowerment of women. She also highlighted numerous programs and projects in this area.

The gathering provided a chance to discuss and compare the many social events that both countries’ residents may participate in.

Read Also: Morocco, UN celebrate Argan Day in New York

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A football delegation led by Steering Committee member of the Royal Football Federation Abdelmalek Abroun and seven football players have already arrived in Qatar.

19 additional players are likely to join the competition shortly after completing their obligations to their international football clubs as the league approaches its start date.

The Moroccan national team’s schedule for the 2022 World Cup is as follows:

Croatia vs Morocco
The 2018 World Cup runner-up Croatia will be the first opponent for Morocco’s Atlas Lions in their 2022 World Cup campaign.In the 2018 World Cup final, Croatia faced France and lost 4-2. But Croatia’s players enthralled football fans everywhere with their incredible performances throughout the competition.

Luka Modric, a pivotal member of Real Madrid, was awarded the Golden Ball as the FIFA World Cup’s best player for his excellent efforts.

The match versus Croatia will take held at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar, on November 23 at 11:00 a.m. local time.

The match lineup has not yet been disclosed.

Morocco vs Belgium

Morocco will face Belgium in their second Group F encounter on November 27 at 14:00 local time. According to FIFA’s most recent rating dated October 6, Belgium is the world’s second-best football team.

At Al Thumama Stadium, the Atlas Lions will face the Belgian national team.In October, Belgium’s coach, Roberto Martinez, expressed enthusiasm about the impending encounter, calling it a “huge football derby.”

“Unless you are Belgian, you do not comprehend the tale,” the coach remarked, “but there is a deep relationship” between the two countries.

“There are up to five or six Moroccan players who were born in Belgium, which provides an even greater bond,” he continued.

Morocco vs Canada

On December 1, Morocco’s third World Cup match in Group F will take place against Canada. The game will start at Al Thumama Stadium at 6:00 local time.
The stated fixtures’ timings are all in Moroccan time.
The games will televised on beIN Sports. The matches may be seen on Morocco’s sports channel by anyone without access to the Qatari network.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will feature 10 matches that will be televised by Morocco’s National Company of Radio and Television (SNRT), including those involving the national team.
The Atlas Lions will also fly to the UAE on Thursday, November 17, to take part in a friendly game against Georgia before their World Cup fixtures.
The third and final friendly for the Moroccan national team before to their World Cup matches will be against Georgia.

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Bilal El Khannouss has been called up by the official national team of Morocco, managed by head coach Walid Regragui, to participate in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The youngest player on the national football team, the Atlas lion, garnered worldwide attention in Belgium for his outstanding achievements with Racing Genk.

After the young, talented football player opted to play for Morocco rather than Belgium, Belgian media and spectators expressed profound regret.

The Moroccan football player, who was born in 2004 in Strombeek-Beever, Belgium, joined Genk at the age of 14.

El Khannouss participated in the U15 and U16 football seasons for Belgium. According to Transfer Market, the offensive midfielder is worth €4.5 million (MAD 50 million) on the football market.

With his Belgian team, the Moroccan player made 15 appearances during the Jupiler Pro League 2022–2023 and contributed one goal.

From 2009 until 2019, El Khannouss began his youth career at Anderlecht before joining Genk in 2019.

He also played in 2022’s U20 Moroccan football team.

Coach of the U21 football team Jackie Matise recently commented on El Khannouss’ selection, saying it is a “shame since he is a really excellent and fascinating player.”

On the Genk YouTube page, El Khannouss also had a talk with teammate Patrik Hrosovsky in which he revealed that he opted to play for Morocco in order to honor his grandparents.

The football star admitted that while Morocco was his “heart’s desire,” he was honored to be selected by Belgium’s national squad.

El Khannouss said in an interview with the sports news website Kooora that Roberto Martinez had contacted to ask him to represent Belgium.

“I feel proud because it shows that I’m heading in the right direction… Since the Belgium squad features outstanding talents, this does not occur with many players, he said.

Bilal El Khannouss stressed that the media was pressuring him to change his mind about playing for Morocco.

“I refuse to give in to pressure of any kind. I decided to represent Morocco, and I made my decision and announcement public,” he continued.

Wouter Vrancken, the head coach of Racing Genk, “Bilal gives the squad greater solidity, but I think he can be even more forceful. Playing is the only way to practice that.”

He underlined that the football player fit the mold of a leader, saying that “his drive to get better is what matters most.”

El Khannouss is motivated by several of his national team colleagues, particularly Soufiane Boufal and Hakim Ziyech, two of Morocco’s most important players.

During the World Cup, the biggest football competition in the world, Walid Regragui made the decision to offer El Khannouss the chance to play with the other football stars who served as his inspiration.

Morocco was placed in Group F of the World Cup along with Belgium, Croatia, and Canada

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Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the FRMF, will head the national delegation that will travel to Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

The delegation from Morocco, traveling to Qatar will be led by its president, Fouzi Lekjaa, of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF).

All the players are called, with a few exceptions, to join the Atlas Lions flight, which will depart from Rabat on Sunday, November 13.

In fact, they will meet in Doha with the other Atlas Lions chosen by their individual teams. Specifically, there will be games in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League, Turkish Super Ligue, English Premier League, French Ligue 1, and English Premier League the next weekend.

Croatia, Belgium, and Canada are the Atlas Lions’ Pool F opponents in Qatar on November 23, November 27, and December 1, respectively.

To play Georgia, the sole friendly game on the Moroccan schedule, on November 17, Romain Saiss’ teammates will move to the United Arab Emirates.

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The Royal Moroccan Football Federation, the Ministry of National Education, Primary Education, and Sports, as well as Royal Air Maroc, have announced the beginning of a remarkable tour program that will allow Moroccan national team supporters to watch the matches in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.

According to a joint statement from the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Royal Air Maroc, and the Ministry of National Education, Preliminary Education, and Sports, the show enables national team supporters to attend the three matches of the Moroccan team in the first round of the World Cup final, from November 20 to December 4.

The same communication also stated that the company would schedule additional direct flights with a capacity of 3,000 seats during the same time period with a specific price of 5,000 dirhams (round trip) and inclusive of all fees. These flights would be scheduled in addition to the direct daily flights between Casablanca and Doha.

Tickets must be purchased in advance through Royal Air Maroc’s commercial agency in order to enter the matches in order to take advantage of this offer.

The same source states that the flights will be run by Boeing 787-8 and 787-9, which have the best comfort and safety features and can accommodate 274 and 302 passengers, respectively.

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As part of the Atlas Lions’ preparation for the “Qatar 2022” World Cup, the Moroccan national team played their Paraguayan counterparts on the Benito villamarin Stadium field on Tuesday evening. The final score was 0-0.

The game provided an opportunity to assess how prepared the national players were for the World Cup as well as to provide several elements a chance to shine out clearly.

Last Friday in Barcelona, the national football team competed in another friendly match and defeated their Chilean opponents by a score of two goals.

The Atlas Lions with Walid Regragui as the coach are anticipated to begin their World Cup run against Croatia’s next team on November 23, then face Belgium on December 27, with Roman Saiss’ teammates taking on Canada in the third and final round on December 1.

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As the first Middle Eastern nation to host the FIFA World Cup from November 20 to December 18, Qatar will utilise  conscripts to bolster its security forces, an official stated on Tuesday. Men from other nations, notably Morocco, will also arrive.

As more than a million visitors are anticipated during the event, the small Gulf emirate will rely on both its own police force and army as well as on international security forces and private security firms to keep order.

All Qatari men between the ages of 18 and 35 are required to serve in the army for four months as of 2014. In a recent interview, the measure’s initiator, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, stated that he was thinking about applying it to women.

The military service of men in important civilian positions can be postponed, although some have received calls for the 2022 World Cup.

A government official spoke to AFP under the condition of anonymity and said, “Qatar’s national service program will continue as normal during the World Cup.”

“Recruits performing their mandatory service will be temporarily supported by a small number of conscripts,” he added, explaining that this is a common practice in Qatar for major events.

Conscripts were also in high demand when Qatar hosted the World Athletics Championships in 2019 and the Arab Football Cup, a rematch of the World Cup, last year.

Qatar has over 50,000 soldiers and police officers, but it will also use thousands of security guards in stadiums and foreign forces to patrol its streets.

During the World Cup, Pakistan and Morocco are expected to send troops, and Turkey has committed to send 3,200 police to the emirate.

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Qatar joins the list of key allies outside NATO as the 18th country. Three African countries, including two Maghreb countries.
This attribute is “a powerful sign of the close relationship between the United States and the nations that it receives and reflects our deep esteem for friendship with them,” according to the US Department of State.
This classification, as per France Press, provides States with a number of defensive and economic benefits, but it does not guarantee them access to US military protection, as it does for other NATO member states.
While it “provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation…,” According to the Ministry, “military and economic concessions are offered, but there are no security requirements for the specific country.”
States’ eligibility for defense loan programs, priority delivery for certain military sales, receipt of excess defense materials, and hosting of US-owned reserve war stocks were among the benefits cited by the State Department.

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Moroccan researcher Abdelkrim Elkellali from Sidi Mohamed ben Abdellah University of Fez won on Monday the 2nd Qatar Global Award for Dialogue Among Civilizations.

Elkellali won for his paper “The role of the media in preventing hatred and building civilizational cooperation on the horizon of establishing cooperative civilizations,” according to the Qatari Committee for Alliance of Civilizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which organized the 3rd edition with the theme “The role of Da’wah and the Media in Consolidating Values of Coexistence and Reducing Hatred Speech.”

He explained that the Scientific Committee and the external jury decided not to give the first prize “due to the lack of a work that met the requirements of quality that represent the award’s symbolic and financial significance.”

The researcher Ali bin Mubarak takes third place in this global prize, which is organized in collaboration with the University of Qatar and represented by the Chair of the Islamic World Organization for Education, Science and Culture (ISESCO) in the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies, for his work on “Hate speech and the problem of civilizational communication through Mohamed Amara’s reformist project.”

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“It is a pleasure for me to renew contact with you to express to you the sincere feelings of friendship that I dedicate to your honorable person, as well as the prayers to the Almighty to perpetuate on you the benefits of health, happiness, prosperity and long life”, we read in a message from King Mohammed VI to King Salman ibn Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Sovereign of Saudi Arabia.

King Salman’s forthright and unequivocal support for the Moroccan character of the Sahara and the Kingdom’s territorial integrity, expressed alongside their Majesties and Highnesses the leaders of the Gulf countries, during the 42nd session of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council, held in Riyadh under the wise chairmanship of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has been followed with interest and consideration by the Sovereign.

“This position is not foreign to you, nor to your brother country to which we are united by solid links, distinguished partnership relations and permanent solidarity”, underlines the royal message, adding that Morocco has always considered security and stability of the Arab Gulf countries as an integral part of its security and that any attack on these countries constitutes an attack on the Kingdom.

King Mohammed VI also sent a message of thanks and gratitude to Sultan Haitham Ben Tarek ben Taimur, Sultan of Oman, for his country’s firm support for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom.

“It is a pleasure for me to resume contact with your Majesty to express to you my deep consideration and my gratitude for what you have expressed, with my brothers, Their Majesties and Highnesses, leaders of the Gulf States, in firm support for the Moroccan Sahara and in full support for the territorial integrity of Morocco “at the 42 th session of the Supreme Council of the Gulf cooperation Council (GCC) held in Riyadh, said the royal message.

The Sovereign also expressed his thanks to Sultan Haitham Ben Tarek “for this noble support which is not foreign to your honorable country, which maintains deep-rooted fraternal relations with the Kingdom of Morocco, based on solidarity, cooperation and mutual respect”.

The sovereign also sent a message of thanks and gratitude to the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, for his country’s clear and strong support for the Moroccan character of the Sahara.

In this message, the Sovereign expresses to Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani his feelings of esteem and his great satisfaction at the bonds of sincere brotherhood and mutual esteem uniting King Mohammed VI and the Emir of Qatar, as well as the two families, and relations of constructive cooperation and active solidarity binding the two fraternal peoples.

The Sovereign says he is proud to present to Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani the sincere feelings of thanks and gratitude “for the clear and strong support that you have expressed, alongside my brothers, Their Majesties and Highnesses, the leaders of the Gulf countries. , to the Moroccan character of the Sahara and full and continuous support for Morocco to recover its southern provinces ”.

Another message of thanks and gratitude was sent by the sovereign to the King of Bahrain, HM Hamad Ben Issa Al Khalifa.

“It is a pleasure for me to renew contact with your Majesty to share with you my thanks and my sincere feelings of gratitude for your honorable person, reiterating our deep pride in the bonds of fraternity and sincere friendship which bind us personally as well as our two royal families and our two brother peoples ”, underlines the royal message.

“I learned with great consideration and gratitude the position you have expressed in the same way as my brothers, their majesties and highnesses, Heads of State of the Gulf countries, firmly and unequivocally supporting the Moroccan character of the Sahara and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco, during the 42 nd session of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (CCG), held in the brother Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ”, the royal message continued.

The Sovereign affirmed that “This is an authentic position illustrating your country’s commitment to solid fraternal solidarity at all levels with your second country, Morocco, which still considers stability and security of the Gulf countries as an integral part of its stability and security, being deeply convinced of our common destiny and the convergence of points of view vis-à-vis the various issues of common interest, as I have affirmed in front of your Majesty on the occasion of the Morocco-CCG Summit in Riyadh on April 20, 2016 ”.

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