Spain’s King Felipe VI visit to Morooco: An asset in the vibrant bilateral cooperation

By on July 14, 2014

Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were received on Monday with military honors by Moroccan monarch Mohammed VI and his wife, Lalla Salma, in Rabat’s Mechouar Square, near the Royal Palace.

Minutes before, King Mohammed VI had awaited the Spanish royals at the airport gate along with his four siblings, Prince Moulay Rachid and Princesses Meryem, Hasna and Asma.

During the drive to Mechouar Square, the Spanish royal couple were affectionately greeted along the streets by hundreds of citizens who gathered waving Moroccan and Spanish flags.

At the square, they attended a Moroccan government ceremony along with the full complement of Cabinet ministers and representatives of the country’s other institutions.

Inside the palace, the two monarchs will hold a private meeting to be attended also by the official delegations from both countries headed in Spain’s case by Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo.

Late in the afternoon, Mohammed VI will honor Felipe VI with an “iftar,” or Ramadan breakfast, where Muslims break the fast they have maintained since dawn and to which some 200 people have been invited.

The Iftar was attended by members of the official delegation accompanying the Spanish Sovereigns, the Head of Government, the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament, HM the King’s advisors, members of the Moroccan government, members of the Spanish community in Morocco, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to Morocco, and several civil and military officials.

Besides, HM King Mohammed VI has decorated HM King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain with Wissam Al Mohammadi (Exceptional Class).

The official visit of Spain’s King Felipe VI to Morocco Monday is aimed at giving more impulse to the excellent strategic bilateral relations and consolidate the neighbourliness bonds, Moroccan state news agency MAP reported Morocco’s ambassador in Spain Mohammed Fadel Benyaich as saying.

“The visit has a tremendous importance for the two countries and for the two friend people and confirms the friendship, cooperation and mutual respect relations binding Morocco and Spain and the two Royal families,” he told MAP.

Benyaich said that King Felipe’s visit to Spain, a few days after his enthronement reflected the two leaders’ common will and resolve.

The Moroccan ambassador also noted that the “excellent ties of brotherhood” linking the two royal families were an asset in the vibrant bilateral cooperation that helped overcome “hardships that might arise sometimes,” MAP said.

“Presently, relations between Morocco and Spain are excellent,” said the ambassador who recalled the numerous exchange of visits between officials of the two countries in the last years.

Spain has also become Morocco’s first trade partner, ahead of France and the two countries have also intensified political, economic, social, cultural and human cooperation, said the ambassador.

He noted that the two countries are also endeavoring to explore new cooperation perspectives to take on the 21st century challenges, reports MAP.

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