Moroccan FM visits Cairo

Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Mohamed Benaissa, paid a visit to Egypt Tuesday for talks with his Egyptian peer, Ahmed Maher, on bilateral relations and on regional and international issues of mutual concern, mainly the situation in the Middle East.

The two sides surveyed a set of Arab, Islamic and African issues and probed means of improving cooperation among the countries of the region and materializing the Agadir Declaration, setting up a free-trade area between Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

The two men told reporters at a joint news conference that their meeting was part of permanent consultation and coordination between the two states to enhance their political, economic and cultural relations.

Touching on the postponement of the visit President Hosni Moubarak was to pay to Morocco this Jan.11, Maher said the decision was made in view of the developments in the Middle East region and ongoing efforts to stop the degradation of the situation in the Palestinian territories. The two sides agreed to set a new date for the visit in the short run, he said.

Benaissa said his talks with Maher also covered the meetings scheduled at the level of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the coming Arab summit. As to the venue of the Arab summit, he said that the meeting is initially scheduled to be held in Beirut, as decided by the previous Arab summit, but that Libya was for convening the meeting in Cairo. The Arab League Secretary General is contacting member states to settle the issue, Benaissa said.

Benaissa who left Cairo this Wednesday morning had earlier visited Bahrain and Iran.