Morocco first Arab state to hold NATO meeting
Morocco-USA, Politics, 3/10/2006

A source in the NATO said that it will hold its first meeting in an Arab state in April as it will witness the talks with seven Mediterranean partners in Morocco.

The meetings will be held for two days in the Moroccan capital Rabat on April 6th and 7th under the chairmanship of NATO's secretary general Jakob Gijsbert (Jaap) de Hoop Scheffer.

The meeting will include the ambassador of the NATO's 26 member states as well as ambassadors and political leaders from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunis as well as Israel.

The meeting will give special importance to the regular political consultations which started in 1995 and were launched again at Istanbul summit in 2004. It will, in particular discuss "the Mediterranean" dialogue which NATO aims to convert into an original partnership. The meeting is expected to be concluded a bilateral press conference for Schiffer and the Moroccan foreign minister Muhammad Bin Issa.

Worthy mentioning that the NATO started to run its naval patrols in the Mediterranean after the incidents of September 11 in the course of the preventive measures against "terrorism." Its earlier meetings had been always held in one of its member states.

Previous Stories:
  Rumsfeld ends visit to Morocco, urges to face al-Qaeda   (2/14/2006)
  Rumsfeld in Morocco after Algeria and Tunisia   (2/13/2006)
  Israeli-Greek maneuvers in the presence of Arab observers   (11/2/2005)
  Spain's Premier: no worry about Morocco's becoming US Major non-Nato ally   (6/8/2004)
  Moroccans protest Spain's invasion of Moroccan islet   (7/19/2002)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search