US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on visit in Morocco

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo arrived Thursday in Morocco for an official visit that confirms the strong relations between the two countries and reflects their shared willingness to develop further their strategic partnership.

The Secretary will meet in Rabat with a range of government officials to review the two countries’ strong economic and security partnership, announced the State Department.
Secretary Pompeo will also discuss areas for future US-Moroccan cooperation within the framework of the US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue, it said.

On the eve of his visit, Pompeo had said that Morocco is “one of the strongest partners” of the United States in the region.

At a press briefing held in Washington ahead of Pompeo’s trip, a senior State Department official described Morocco “a critical partner” of Washington in a wide range of issues, “a leader on the African continent, an important voice for peace in the broader Middle East, and a source of stability in the Mediterranean”.

He also hailed continued partnership with Morocco in multilateral effort to defeat ISIS, praising the country’s unrelenting efforts to promote sustainable economic development by prioritizing the inclusion of women in the workforce.

The State Department official renewed on this occasion his country’s support to Morocco’s Sahara autonomy initiative, which he described again as a “serious, credible and realistic” solution to this regional conflict.