El subsecretario de Estado de Estados Unidos visita Marruecos para mejorar la cooperación
David Schenker, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, will visit Morocco this week to discuss different ways of strengthening economic and security relations between Rabat and Washington.
The US Department of State announced in a statement that Schenker will land in Morocco from Lebanon after attending the opening session of the negotiations to be launched between Lebanon and Israel on the delimitation of maritime borders.
"In Morocco, Assistant Secretary Schenker, joined by Ambassador David T. Fischer, will meet with government officials to discuss opportunities for increasing economic and security cooperation to further promote the U.S.-Morocco strategic partnership," the State Department announced in a press release.
On October 20, the Under Secretary will travel to London to meet his UK counterparts to discuss recent developments in the Middle East and North Africa.
Early this month the US defence secretary, Mark Esper, arrived in Morocco with similar objectives to those set out in David Schenker's itinerary.
The visit by the head of the Pentagon was used to sign the treaty 'Roadmap for Defence Cooperation 2020-2030 between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States of America'.
The agreement signed between Washington and Rabat paves the way for full cooperation in the strategic military field, the acquisition of weapons and equipment, military training in all sectors, and intelligence between the two countries, according to the Moroccan daily Le 360.
Washington is the main supplier of weapons and military equipment to the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR), and once a year, except in 2020 owing to the pandemic, the US Army's Africa Corps holds manoeuvres on Moroccan territory that are among the most important in the world in terms of the resources mobilised.
During his trip, Esper recalled the close and longstanding collaboration between Rabat and Washington, 'for a long time', and pointed out that Morocco was the first country to recognise its independence from the United States: 'The Kingdom of Morocco is a leading country in military matters. This agreement effectively draws up a roadmap for consolidating bilateral cooperation", the senior US official said during the press conference.