Visiting U.S. State Secretary Condaleezza Rice held talks on Sunday with Moroccan peer, Taieb Fassi Fihri on bilateral relations, official MAP news agency reported.
Relations between the two states was described as excellent, MAP said quoting a Foreign Ministry source, adding that the two officials also talked about the reforms introduced in Morocco and supported by the U.S. administration.
Besides bilateral relations, talks also touched on the ties between Maghreb States (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia), the prospects of erecting the Maghreb Union, and the Western Sahara issue.
Rice-Fihri meeting was followed by a larger meeting between the delegations of the two countries.
The State Secretary arrived in Morocco late Saturday, the last leg of her four-state Maghreb tour during witch she has visited Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria.
Rice, who was received by her Moroccan counterpart upon her arrival in Rabat airport, discussed with Moroccan Premier Abbas ElFassi on the latest developments over the issue of Western Sahara, a disputed territory that Morocco considers as its own.
Talks also touched on Morocco's reforms in the field of human rights and the upcoming local elections due in 2009.
Discussions between Moroccan and U.S. officials are also covering the threat of terrorism. Morocco is a staunch ally of the U.S. in the Maghreb in its war on terror and in the fight against Islamist extremism.
The north African country said it has disbanded about 60 terror cells since it was targeted by terrorists in 2003. Press reports and rights associations also say over a thousand islamists have jailed ever since in the north African kingdom.
Source:Xinhua
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