Secretary Kerry, Moroccan Foreign Minister Mezouar to Co-Chair Third US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue April 9

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - April 07, 2015) - On Thursday, April 9, Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar and other top-level Moroccan officials will meet with their US counterparts in Washington for the third round of the US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue, to deepen the two countries' cooperation in four key areas: political affairs, economic cooperation, security, and educational and cultural issues.

The meeting comes almost exactly one year since the second Dialogue, which was held in Rabat in April 2014. In opening remarks for that meeting, US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed Morocco's leadership on reforms as well as security and stability in the region, and pledged continued US support for its long-time strategic partner.

"Morocco is playing an essential leadership role," said Kerry at the time. "The United States stands by and will stand by this relationship every step of the way."

Since then, Morocco has become the only Maghreb state to have joined the US-led anti-ISIL coalition. The Kingdom played a leading role at the September 2014 meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), and in November hosted the US's Global Entrepreneurship Summit, at which Vice President Joe Biden delivered the keynote address.

"The US-Morocco friendship is more crucial than ever, given the dangerous situation in the Middle East and North Africa," said former US Ambassador to Morocco Edward M. Gabriel. "Morocco has been a staunch ally for more than two centuries and continues to cooperate with the US and lead the region on counterterrorism, economic development and human rights."

Launched in September 2012, the US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue builds on a decade of developments in the two countries' relationship, including ratification of the US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement and Morocco's designation as a major non-NATO ally.

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.

This material is distributed by the Moroccan American Center for Policy on behalf of the Government of Morocco. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.