Morocco, Sudan Set to Further Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation

Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Nasser Bourita, and his Sudanese counterpart, Mariam Al-Sadeq Al-Mahdi, underlined on Friday the need to further strengthen the rich relations of cooperation between the two countries in various sectors. The two ministers, who held talks via videoconference, expressed their pride in the ties of sincere fraternity, solidarity and constructive cooperation between the two brotherly countries. On this occasion, Mr. Bourita reaffirmed Morocco’s support for the important advances made in order to strengthen the transition phase, congratulating Sudan for the lifting of the sanctions imposed against it and its removal from the list of countries supporting terrorism, which opens new perspectives for the country with a view to integrating into the global economy, says a statement by the ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad. Regarding the issue of the Moroccan Sahara, Bourita commended Sudan’s position of principle and permanent support for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Moroccanness of the Sahara. The two ministers also stressed the need to develop and strengthen bilateral cooperation through the modernization of the legal framework in order to be in line with the ambitions of the two countries which seek to breathe new impetus into their cooperation. In this regard, the two sides agreed to update bilateral cooperation mechanisms, to conclude new generation agreements and to focus on very specific and promising sectors, in particular agriculture, seeds, decentralization and vocational training. They also expressed their satisfaction with the training programs implemented by Moroccan establishments in order to build the capacity of Sudanese skills in various areas. In this regard, Mr. Bourita expressed the Kingdom’s readiness to support Sudan and meet its needs in terms of training and transfer of Moroccan expertise in several sectors. For her part, Mrs. Al-Sadeq Al-Mahdi informed Mr. Bourita about the latest developments in the negotiations on the Renaissance Dam and the difficulties encountered in reaching a binding agreement on this issue. Mr. Bourita underlined that Morocco is closely following the developments of this issue and wishes the continuation of the negotiations and the dialogue, as soon as possible, with a view to reaching a solution guaranteeing the rights of all and allowing all the countries concerned to collectively benefit from the waters of the Nile, the statement adds.