In a move signaling the full restoration of diplomatic relations between Rabat and Damascus, Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, announced that a Moroccan technical delegation will be dispatched to the Syrian capital next week to prepare for the reopening of the Kingdom’s embassy in Damascus.
The announcement was made during a meeting between Bourita and his Syrian counterpart, Assad Al-Shaibani, on Saturday in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on the sidelines of the 34th Arab Summit. The two ministers exchanged views on ways to enhance bilateral relations and implement the royal decision to reopen the Moroccan embassy in Syria, which had been closed since 2012.
Bourita stressed that the decision follows the directives of King Mohammed VI, expressed in his address to the Arab Summit, in which the King emphasized the importance of opening new avenues of cooperation between the two countries in the interest of both peoples.
For his part, Syria’s foreign minister expressed his country’s gratitude for the Moroccan monarch’s decision, describing Moroccan-Syrian relations as “very good,” and reaffirmed Damascus’s desire to strengthen ties on economic and investment fronts within the Arab sphere.
Al-Shaibani also announced that Syria will, in turn, send a technical team to Rabat to make the necessary arrangements to reopen the Syrian embassy in Morocco — a move reflecting both sides’ intent to turn the page on diplomatic estrangement and embark on a new phase of bilateral relations.
