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Media
- Press Release: Secretary Clinton Praises Morocco for Longstanding Partnership, Recognizes Morocco’s Apr 09 2009
News Release
CONTACT: Calvin Dark
202.587.0855
Angelene Taccini
201.488.0049 office
201.916.0067 mobile
For Immediate Release: Thursday, April 9, 2009
Secretary Clinton Praises Morocco for Longstanding Partnership, Recognizes Morocco’s Historic Role in Combating Piracy on High Seas
Washington, DC (April 9, 2009) – At a bilateral meeting yesterday with Moroccan Foreign Minister Dr. Taieb Fassi Fihri, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised Morocco for its “extraordinary progress” and reaffirmed America’s commitment to its longstanding relationship offriendship and cooperation with the North African nation. She emphasized the need for international cooperation on security issues, such as the recent act of Somali piracy that threatened 21 American crew members, and remarked that Morocco was the first ally of the United States to offer assistance in the protection of its merchant fleet more than 200 years ago.
“Morocco was the very first country that recognized us, going back a long time,” said Secretary Clinton. “We worked together to end piracy off of the coast of Morocco all those years ago, and we’re going to work together to end this kind of criminal activity anywhere on the high seas.”
Morocco is one of America’s oldest and closest allies: in 1777, Morocco became the first country to recognize the independence of the American colonies, and the Treaty of Friendship and Peace of 1787 between the United States and Morocco remains America’s longest-unbroken treaty. Morocco has long partnered with the US to build bridges between the Islamic world and the West, as well as to combat acts of terrorism in the lawless regions of the Sahara.
“We are so committed to our relationship and have very high regard for the extraordinary progress that has taken place in Morocco …and we look forward to deepening and strengthening our relationship,” said Secretary Clinton.
“USA and Morocco have a longstanding relationship, and we will continue to work together to defend peace and stability, mainly in the Middle East, in Africa,” said Foreign Minister Fihri. “We in Morocco really appreciate the statement made by the President and then Madame Secretary about new dialogue with Muslim countries and also how to reach the peace in the Middle East.”
Morocco historically has played a significant role in the Middle East peace process, including participation in international peace conferences, hosting Israeli leaders in Morocco, and serving as an intermediary between Israel and other Arab states. His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco currently chairs the al Quds (Jerusalem) Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Secretary Clinton’s expressed commitment to continue to grow the US-Moroccan relationship is consistent with the recommendations of a special report, “Why the Maghreb Matters,” issued last week by a distinguished panel that includes former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Ret. General Wesley Clark and former Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat. Released by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and the Conflict Management Program at Johns Hopkins University, the North Africa policy paper notes a 400% spike in terrorist attacks in the region since 9/11 and advocates increases US engagement with Morocco and other North Africa nations to protect American security interests and to thwart a growing peril from al-Qaeda terrorists in the Sahara, which UN Counter-Terrorism Chief Mike Smith warns “has emerged as the world's most worrying security hotspot.”
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The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. For more, please visit www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org
This material is distributed by the Moroccan American Center for Policy and Avalanche Strategic Communications on behalf of the Government of Morocco. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC
FINAL_Press_Release_Clintonstatement9Apr09FINAL.pdf
- Press Release: More than 140 Foreign Policy Experts and Scholars call on Pres. Obama to Support Demo Mar 11 2009
CONTACT: Calvin Dark
202-587-0855
For Immediate Release: Wed, March 11, 2009
More than 140 Foreign Policy Experts and Scholars call on Pres. Obama to Support Democracy-building in Muslim World; Morocco highlighted as a Model for the Region
Washington, DC (Mar. 11, 2009) – Yesterday, more than 140 foreign policy experts and scholars from the U.S. and abroad addressed an open letter to US President Barack Obama, congratulating him for his promise to reach out to the Muslim world and calling for concrete policy changes to rebuild and strengthen US relations with partners in the region.
“In order to rebuild relations of mutual respect, it is critical that the United States be on the right side of history regarding the human, civil, and political rights of the peoples of the Middle East,” wrote the experts in the letter, which received bi-partisan support from former US government officials as well as international political and civil society leaders. “What they need from your administration is a commitment to encourage political reform not through wars, threats, or imposition, but through peaceful policies that reward governments that take active and measurable steps towards genuine democratic reforms,” said the letter.
Morocco, the United States’ longest-running treaty ally, since 1787, was highlighted in the letter as one of the region’s models for reform, where “the right to participate in reasonably credible and open elections has moderated Islamist parties and enhanced [its] commitment to democratic norms.”
For more than 230 years, Morocco and the United States have forged a strong multi-faceted partnership to promote security, economic growth and political stability in the Muslim world and beyond. After first recognizing the American colonies in 1777, Morocco then signed the U.S.’s longest unbroken Treaty of Friendship and Peace. In 2004, Morocco signed a Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., opening the door to increased trade and economic development for millions in North Africa. In 2007, the two countries signed a $697.5 million Millennium Challenge Compact— the largest MCC compact granted to that date— as part of the US initiative to recognize and promote good governance building through economic incentives and partnerships.
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The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP)is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and an interested public in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org
FINAL_MACP_Press_Release031109.pdf
- Press Release: UN Sec. Gen. urges newly appointed envoy to “build on progress made” to resolve the W Jan 08 2009
CONTACT: Calvin Dark
202-587-0855
For Immediate Release: August 1, 2008
UN Sec. Gen. urges newly appointed envoy to “build on progress made” to resolve the Western Sahara conflict
Washington, DC (January 8, 2009) –Yesterday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon announced the appointment of seasoned US diplomat Christopher W.S. Ross as his new Personal Envoy for the Western Sahara and called on Ambassador Ross to build on progress made through four rounds of negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front since 2007.
“Mr. Ross will work with the parties and neighboring countries based on the most recent Security Council Resolution 1813 and previous resolutions, building on progress made to date, in pursuit of a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara,” UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters during a press briefing held yesterday in New York.
Ambassador Ross succeeds Dutch diplomat and former Personal Envoy for the Western Sahara Peter Van Walsum, who, after mediating four rounds of negotiations since 2007, called for compromise and realism from the parties in order to find a lasting solution to the conflict. In his final assessment to the UN Security Council in April 2008, Van Walsum concluded that “an independent Western Sahara is not an attainable goal” and that the “status quo [is] intolerable.”
During a recent trip to the region, outgoing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice echoed Van Walsum’s conclusions, reiterating the US position that the parties did not “need to go back to square one” and that some form of autonomy is the “obvious solution” to the three-decades old Western Sahara conflict.
“It is encouraging that the Secretary General recognizes the importance of recapturing the momentum of negotiations towards a realistic basis for moving forward, rather than beginning the process over again at square one,” said Robert M. Holley, Executive Director of the Moroccan American Center for Policy. “We look forward to the continuation of multilateral, UN-led efforts under Ambassador Ross to peacefully resolve this thirty-year-old conflict, and hope that the Polisario Front will join Morocco and take part in good-faith negotiations.”
Ambassador Ross mostly recently served as the US State Department’s Special Advisor to the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs attached to the Office of Iraq Affairs and Senior Advisor for the Middle East and North Africa at the US Mission to the UN. He is also a former US Ambassador to Algeria and Syria.
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The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.
FINAL_MACP_Press_Advisory010809.pdf
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