Morocco-US: Strategic Dialogue To Combat Terrorism

A meeting of the U.S.-Morocco Strategic Dialogue working group was convened on Wednesday in Washington at the initiative of Morocco and the U.S. in order to exchange views on counterterrorism, and to reinforce their efforts at cooperation in the area of security. Counterterrorism necessitates building the foundations of moderation and spreading the values of tolerance.

According to our sources, Undersecretary Nathan A. Sales, the U.S. State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, co-chaired the meeting with Ismail Chekkori, the director of the Global Affairs Department at the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Relations and International Cooperation, and in the presence of Lalla Joumala Alaoui, the ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the U.S.

The copy of the official statement from the U.S. State Department obtained by Hespress FR states, “Delegations from the United States and Morocco reaffirmed their ongoing commitment to strengthening counterterrorism cooperation and discussed the evolving nature of efforts to defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups in Africa. They discussed the urgent need for all countries to repatriate foreign terrorist fighters from Syria and to prosecute them for the crimes they have committed.

“The delegations agreed to build on ongoing initiatives to fight terrorism, including countering threats from terrorist ideology. The two sides also reaffirmed their interest in strengthening border security and countering terrorist travel, and discussed international cooperation in trade controls and nonproliferation frameworks, including the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and the Proliferation Security Initiative.

“The Working Group concluded with a renewed commitment to improving law enforcement and justice sector cooperation and fighting cybercrime, as well as in prison management, crisis management, and justice sector reforms,¨ concluded the U.S. State Department.

That meeting is part of an initiative launched in September 2012 following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States of America, which manifests both parties’ commitment to reinforce, enrich and deepen their bilateral cooperation through a renewed and mutually beneficial partnership that takes into account the respective priorities of the two friends and partners.

That dialogue highlights a bilateral relationship erected as an indispensable platform armed with a strategic vision that aims to bring efficient answers to the multiple challenges that threaten peace and stability at the regional level, but also at the level of the African continent as a whole.

With regard to security, Morocco, which is one of the first African countries to join the International Coalition against the Islamic State group, while co-chairing the Global Counterterrorism Forum, plays a global role in counterterrorism. The kingdom has been able to thwart terrorist activities in Europe, Africa and the Middle East at the ideological, operational and financial levels.

Through its commitment in favor of security, and through the efficiency of its security forces, Morocco represents, according to the U.S. State Department, “a stabilizing force in the region.¨

It is worth noting that the Strategic Dialogue focuses on four main areas discussed in the following four working groups: the political working group, the security working group, the economic, trade and financial working group, and lastly, the educational and cultural working group.

Morocco is the only African country to sign a free trade agreement with the United States, and holds the status of a major Washington ally outside of NATO. The kingdom has also successfully completed a productive compact with the Millennium Challenge Corporation.