Jettou: Morocco seeks counter-terrorism cooperation with Portugal

Morocco is attached to international counter-terrorism cooperation and coordination with friend countries like Portugal, said here, on Friday, Moroccan premier, Driss Jettou.

"Morocco has always condemned terrorism, regardless of its origins and reasons, and it categorically rejects all forms of extremism," Jettou told a joint press conference with his Portuguese counterpart, Pedro Santana Lopez, at the end of the 8th session of the Moroccan-Portuguese joint commission, held in Lisbon.

Morocco, he said, considers dialogue and understanding the ideal means to tackle divergences poisoning relations between states and feeding hatred and animosity that nourish violence and extremism.

Morocco was targeted in May 2003 by terrorist attacks that killed 45 people, including 12 suicide bombers. It is currently cooperating with many countries to combat this scourge.

A common release published at the end of the 8th session of the high joint commission notes that the two sides expressed strong resolve to reinforce cooperation to fight terrorism at the bilateral, regional and international levels.

The documents points out that the joint commission also examined regional and international issues of common interest, particularly the situation in the Maghreb, Iraq, the Middle East and Africa.