First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, who is on a two-day visit to the Kingdom of Morocco, met today with Prime Minister of the Kingdom Saadeddine El Othmani and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita.
Minister Dacic and Moroccan officials discussed bilateral relations between Serbia and Morocco and the potential for the promotion of cooperation, especially in the field of economy, as well as current international and regional issues.
“I would like to express pleasure at my visit to Morocco. As you know, Serbia is a successor of the former Yugoslavia and we take pride in emphasizing a long-standing tradition of our diplomatic relations.
To my colleague, Minister of Foreign Affairs, I brought photos from our archives taken during President Tito’s visit to Morocco and photos of King Hassan II who attended the First Conference of Non-Aligned Countries in Belgrade in 1961.
As for our bilateral relations, they are traditionally good and we stand ready to develop them further in the spirit of friendship and cooperation.
It is necessary to activate as soon as possible the Joint Committee on Cooperation between our two countries in order to increase volume of our economic cooperation which could be much higher than it is at present. There are many areas where we can have better cooperation such as agriculture, energy, IT.
Our two countries share the same views regarding the respect for international law. It turned out that double standards and exceptions have no place in international law because such exceptions eventually become rules.
We have maintained time and again that we support each other’s territorial integrity and act accordingly in international organizations, wishing to resolve all problems peacefully, through dialogue within institutions charged with facilitating such dialogue, primarily the United Nations.
Respect for territorial integrity of a country is of key importance to us. We are thankful to Morocco for respecting the territorial integrity of Serbia and I once again urge that cooperation between this region and the Western Balkan region be initiated.
We signed today the Memorandum on Cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Moroccan Academy for Diplomatic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco as well as Program of Cooperation in the fields of culture, education, media, youth and sports between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco for the 2018-2020 period.
Also, with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister I today discussed Morocco’s bid to host the FIFA World Cup. I shall convey to the Serbian Football Association our recommendation to support Morocco’s bid.
I would like to inform you that Morocco will be the country of honour at the International Book Fair to be held in Belgrade in October. This prestigious event has a tradition lasting more than half a century”, the Serbian Minister said.
Minister Dacic today also gave lecture to the students of the Moroccan Academy for Diplomatic Studies, informing them of the foreign policy priorities of the Republic of Serbia, Serbian EU integration, regional cooperation and current international topics.