Morocco-UAE Defense Cooperation Reviewed at Meeting in Abu Dhabi

Cooperation relations between Morocco and the United Arab Emirates was reviewed at a meeting Sunday in Abu Dhabi, with focus on defense cooperation.

The meeting gathered Moroccan Minister Delegate in charge of the National Defense Administration, Abdellatif Loudiyi, and Emirati Minister of State for Defense, Mohammed bin Ahmad Al Bawardi.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the IDEX 2019 International Defense Exhibition, which opened earlier Sunday in the presence of senior government and military officials from several countries.

During their meeting, the two officials reviewed several aspects of Moroccan-Emirati cooperation and discussed ways to strengthen it, especially in the field of defense.

The two sides also exchanged views on several issues of common interest.

IDEX-NAVDEX, the largest defense and security biennial event in the Middle East, kicked off on Sunday in Abu Dhabi with the participation of senior government and military officials from 62 countries, including Morocco.

The International Defense Exhibition and the International Naval Defense Exhibition will run until February 21.

Some 1300 companies are taking part in this event, with the UAE having the biggest pavilion in terms of space.

According to local media The National, the UAE Armed Forces awarded Dh7 billion in contracts on the second day of the Idex, with the lion’s share of deals going to international companies.

The Armed Forces, which signed 24 contracts in total, awarded six international companies Dh5.87bn worth of contracts, General Mohammed Al Hassani, Idex spokesman was quoted as saying on Monday by The National.

Contracts awarded to local companies are worth Dh1.15bn, he said, adding that Raytheon of the US clinched a Dh5.73bn contracts related to its Patriot missile systems.

The value of deals during the five-day event is likely to exceed the Dh19.17bn reached in 2017, Idex organizers said earlier this month.