Angela Merkel to Visit Morocco in 2017

German iron woman and Chancellor Angela Merkel would visit Morocco next year at the invitation of King Mohammed VI.

The announcement came Thursday in a statement by the Royal Office, which stated that “Chancellor Angela Merkel accepted the sovereign’s invitation to pay an official visit to Morocco early 2017.”

King Mohammed VI and the German Chancellor had Thursday a telephone conversation during which they discussed a number of issues including the migration policy, the statement said, adding in this regard that Morocco pledged to optimize and rationalize the management of migration inflows.

Angela Merkel has repeatedly called on Moroccan and Algerian authorities to fully cooperate with Germany in the identification and deportation of their nationals who have been denied asylum.

In January, in the heat of arrivals of waves of Syrian refugees, Berlin indicated that priority will be given to the Syrian asylum seekers and indicated that Morocco and Algeria were “safe” countries.

King Mohammed gave assurances to the German leader that Morocco would address the issue and the Sovereign instructed the Moroccan home minister to fly to Germany with a team of experts from his department to speed up the identification and deportation process of Moroccan nationals illegally staying in Germany.