Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, is on a working visit to Washington starting from Monday, as part of the ongoing consultations aimed at consolidating the strategic partnership between Morocco and the US.
During this visit, Bourita will attend a series of meetings at the White House and the State Department, including a meeting with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
Under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and American President, Joe Biden, the partnership between Morocco and the US has grown significantly in recent years in several fields.
The Foreign Minister’s visit is an opportunity to strengthen the strong and long-standing bilateral strategic partnership between the two countries in different areas and to discuss international and regional issues of common interest, particularly relating to the Middle East and Africa.
This special visit reflects the dynamic of regular exchanges between Morocco and the US, which have grown considerably over the past two years, with the visit of several senior American officials to the Kingdom.
At the political dialogue level, last year was marked by the visit of the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to Rabat in March 2022.
“We support His Majesty the King’s ambitious reform agenda to strengthen Moroccan institutions,” said Blinkien on the occasion.
Last year also saw the visit of Deputy Secretary, Wendy Sherman, in March, then the visit of the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, in May, and more recently, in January, the visit of the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, Michèle Sison.
In addition, the CEO of the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) made two visits to Morocco last week and previously, in July 2022.
In December, the National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Brett McGurk, also visited Rabat for high-level consultations.
The security consultations were part of the same dynamic of significant reinforcement, especially through the very first visit to Morocco by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, last February.
The visits of the Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, and the Director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, in 2022, aimed to diversify and deepen the growing multidimensional security partnership between Morocco and the US.
Morocco’s exchanges with the American Congress have also been intense, especially over the past three months, with the visit of the Parliamentary Group on the Abraham Accords to the US Senate in January, the visit of a delegation of influential senators led by the president of the Foreign Affairs Committee in February and that of the Hispanic Parliamentary Group in the House of Representatives of the American Congress during March.
The strengthening of Moroccan-American cooperation was also marked by Morocco’s organization of several important joint events, including the ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh in May and July 2022 and the US-Africa Business Summit that served as a prelude to the US-Africa Leaders Summit, hosted by the American President Joe Biden in December.