Morocco

Rabat, Jan 30 (AP-PTI) Scores of Moroccan health workers streamed to a spacious white tent erected outside the Avicenne University Hospital in the capital Rabat to get their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, as a mass vaccination effort began Friday in the North African country.

The bustling vaccination center one of 600 set up in Rabat alone aims to inject more than 4,000 health professionals with vaccine doses within three weeks. That's an example of the ambitious targets set by Morocco, which has one of Africa's most advanced coronavirus vaccination plans in place so far.

20 Jan 2021; MEMO: Abdelaziz Aftati, member of the General Secretariat of the Justice and Development Party (leader of the government coalition in Morocco) confirmed that the thinker and deputy, Abouzaid El Mokrie El Idrissi, decided to freeze his membership to the party following the kingdom's decision to normalise relations with Israel.

Morocco and Israel on Monday discussed prospects for industrial cooperation and partnership in five sectors, an official said, Anadolu reports.

"This morning, I conducted remote discussions with my Israeli counterpart, Amir Peretz, on the prospects for bilateral industrial cooperation," Moroccan Industry Minister Moulay Hafid Elalamy tweeted.

The sectors identified include textiles, food industries, applied research in industry, green technologies, and renewable energy, he added.

26 Dec 2020; MEMO: The Moroccan authorities have strongly condemned Human Rights Watch's use of the human rights file to deliver its political position on Western Sahara, reported RT.

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Morocco announced it has acquired 65 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China’s Sinopharm and Britain’s AstraZeneca, as the north African kingdom prepares to launch a COVID-19 vaccination program that aims to immunize 80% of the country’s adult population.

Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb announced the figure at a Cabinet meeting Thursday. The government didn’t indicate whether the vaccines were purchased or provided by Covax, the global project to provide vaccines to developing countries, or a combination of both.

25 Dec 2020; MEMO: Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita revealed information about the peace agreement between his country and Israel during an interview with Israeli channel i24 News.

Bourita stated that the normalisation talks with Israel started in 2018, and that the key player in supporting this process was King Mohammed VI.

24 Dec 2020; MEMO: Head of largest Algerian Movement for a Society of Peace (MSP), Abderrazak Makri, slammed the Moroccan Justice and Development party as "Zionist" and its head, Prime Minister Saad Eddine El-Othmani as a "traitor" over his country's deal to normalise ties with Israel.

24 Dec 2020; MEMO: Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has confirmed that Morocco is committed to an agreement with Israel that stipulates normalising relations between the two countries.

In an interview with Israeli news website Walla! on Wednesday in Rabat, Bourita stressed that the ties with Israel: "Will be entirely normalised, and we intend to go the whole way in this regard."

RABAT, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Morocco and Israel agreed on Tuesday to immediately establish full diplomatic relations.

The two countries agreed to "immediately resume full official contacts, and establish full diplomatic, peaceful and friendly relations," said a joint declaration issued by Morocco, the United States and Israel in the Moroccan capital Rabat.

The declaration was signed by Morocco's Prime Minister Saad Dine El Otmani, Senior Advisor to U.S. President Trump Jared Kushner, and Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat.

21 Dec 2020; MEMO: Morocco has said it is ready to permanently open its border with neighboring Algeria, Anadolu Agency reports.

Morocco is "ready to solve the issue of closed border when the Algerians are ready for this," Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine El Othmani said in an interview with El-Sharq TV.

Borders between the two neighbors have been closed since 1994 amid tension over the Western Desert, a region disputed between Rabat and Algeria-backed Polisario Front.