Creation of Morocco - Mauritania joint fisheries observatory

King Mohammed VI has proposed to Mauritanian President Mouaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, who visited Morocco last week, the creation of a joint observatory of fisheries resources, said Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Mohamed Benaissa.

The Moroccan official told the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat in an interview published Saturday the two heads of state agreed to coordinate stances in vital sectors such as fisheries. Economic issues ranked high in talks between King Mohammed VI and Ould Taya who also reviewed issues pertaining to putting the Arab Maghreb Union on track again and means to develop the union's bodies.

Benaissa argued that consolidating relations between the union's member states at the bilateral level is likely to create favorable conditions to revive the moribund union.

During the Mauritanian president's three day visit to Morocco, the two countries agreed to set up a high joint commission which would meet in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott. The two heads of state also renewed support to the Middle East peace process on the basis of pertinent international resolutions and the land-for-peace principle and voiced support to the establishment of a Palestinian state with Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital and the liberation of all Syrian and Lebanese territories.