[News] Moroccan FM Arrives in Israel for ‘Historic’ Negev Summit

[Revo]

 

 

Rabat - Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita arrived in Israel today to participate in the Negev Summit with his Israeli, American, Emirati, Egyptian, and Bahraini counterparts.

 
The visit is Bourita’s first in Israel, with the chief of Moroccan diplomacy set to take part in what has been described as a “historic” summit.

The summit, scheduled to last for two days and starting on March 27, will see the diplomats discuss various regional challenges, and will conclude with statements from the various ministers.

Bourita will also meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Rabat, as part of the top American diplomat’s regional tour in Israel, the West Bank, Morocco, and Algeria.

 
Morocco’s relations with Israel have been steadily improving since the two countries signed a “normalization” agreement under the auspices of the US in December 2020. 

Royal Air Maroc (RAM), Morocco’s flag carrier, launched the first direct flight between Casablanca and Tel Aviv earlier this month.

The two countries have also been cooperating economically and on the cultural front. The Moroccan Society for Tourism Engineers (SMIT) organized a webinar with Israeli investors on March 20, and relations between Israeli and Moroccan economic and cultural actors have considerably thrived in the past year.

 
Blinken had previously held a virtual conference with representatives from Israel, Morocco, the UAE, and Bahrain, in a celebration of the first anniversary of the Abraham Accords which saw various Arab countries normalize relations with Israel.

After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations between American, Israeli, and Moroccan diplomats, Morocco finally “normalized” relations with Israel in late 2020, in a tripartite agreement t