Morocco, Ecuador sign memorandum

Morocco and Ecuador signed recently in Quito, the Ecuadorean capital, a memorandum of understanding establishing mechanisms for political consultations between the two countries' foreign departments.

Morocco's ambassador to Colombia and to Ecuador, Youssef Amrani, and Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Benjamin Ortiz, who initialed the memorandum, discussed means of upgrading bilateral cooperation and a set of regional and international issues.

Ortiz hailed in an address during the signing ceremony the role played by late King Hassan II -- who passed away last July 23 of a heart failure -- on the international scene and his tireless mediation efforts to push forward the Middle East peace process.

He added that Ecuadoran diplomacy was inspired by these very principles of peace and coexistence to reach a peace accord with Peru.