Mohamed VI transmite al presidente israelí esperanza en la paz regional

The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, conveyed in a letter addressed to the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, his hope that the restoration of relations between the two countries will boost regional peace, a spokesman for the Israeli presidential office confirmed to Efe. 

"I am convinced that we will make this momentum sustainable in order to promote the prospects of peace for all the peoples of the region," reads the missive sent by the Alawite Royal Palace. 

Mohammed VI expressed his "satisfaction with the steps taken for the resumption of contacts between the two countries" which normalized bilateral relations last December, after 20 years of official rupture. 

The normalization was formalized in Rabat last December 22, in the framework of the agreements between Israel and some Arab countries promoted by the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, and in exchange for the latter's recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara. 

The letter sent by the king responds to another letter from Herzog that the Israeli Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid, delivered last week during his first official visit to Morocco to inaugurate the liaison office. 

Lapid assured that the two states intend to upgrade their diplomatic representations to the status of embassies within the next two months. 

Since July 25, the two countries have also been linked by direct commercial flights and have so far sealed several agreements in the fields of diplomacy, aeronautics and culture. 

In addition, meetings between the authorities of the two countries have recently made progress on entrepreneurship and military cyber defense, and Morocco awaits the arrival of the Israeli Minister of Economy, Orna Barbibai, who plans to travel soon.

Some 700,000 Israeli citizens have origins in Morocco, which was once home to a large Jewish community.