Israeli Parliament Speaker Amir Ohana called on Thursday for strengthening ties between Morocco and Israel during his visit to the North African country.
“I would like to salute the courageous leadership of King Mohammed VI in bolstering relations between nations, and establishing peace,” Ohana told reporters following his meetings with Moroccan House of Representatives’ Speaker Rachid Talbi Alami and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita.
Ohana called for the strengthening of relations between Morocco and Israel, particularly in the fields of agriculture, tourism, security, the preservation of water resources and desalination technologies.
Ohana, who is of Moroccan origin, said this was the first time that an Israeli speaker had been invited to the parliament of a Muslim country.
Meanwhile, Talbi Alami said he told Ohana during their talks that Morocco works for peace, dialogue and coexistence between different civilizations, cultures and religions, according to a statement by the Moroccan parliament.
In this context, the Moroccan parliament and the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union will organize the Parliamentary Conference on Interfaith Dialogue on June 13-15 in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, he added.
The two senior officials later signed an agreement on institutionalizing cooperation between the Moroccan lower house and the Israeli parliament, according to the statement.
Israel and Morocco officially resumed their diplomatic ties in 2020.
In January, the two countries agreed to expand military cooperation in areas including intelligence, air defense and electronic warfare.
