Foreign Minister, Taib Fassi Fihri underscored, on Tuesday in Rabat, the key role the Morocco-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee has to play in implementing the Advanced Status enjoyed by the Kingdom in its relations with the EU.

  “The Morocco-EU is an important institution that has a key role to play in implementing the Advanced Status,” Fassi Fihri told the press following a meeting with the members of the Committee.

This parliamentary Committee offers a political framework to highlight Morocco's reforms and projects, such as the constitutional reforms, the Minister underscored.

The meeting was also an opportunity to inform the European MPs about the latest developments on the Sahara issue, especially after the adoption the UN Security Council resolution, Fassi Fihri added.

Part of parliamentary political dialogue between Morocco and the EU, the meeting runs until May 20.

The Committee was created under the Advanced Status, granted to Morocco in 2008 by the EU, with the aim of fostering ties between the Kingdom and European Parliaments.

Seventh round of informal talks on Sahara in US early June
 
  Moroccan Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fihri announced, on Thursday, that the seventh round of informal talks on the Sahara is due early June in Manhasset, near New York.
 
 
     On the Security Council resolution 1979, Fassi Fihri told the foreign affairs, national defence and Islamic affairs committee at the House of Representatives that it establishes major elements, as it confirms all the achievements made by Morocco over the past years in this decisive issue, by highlighting the preeminence of the autonomy initiative.

    In this respect, the minister noted that the resolution highlighted the serious, credible efforts made by Morocco towards reaching a final mutually acceptable political solution.

    He added that the resolution establishes the underpinnings of negotiations, and urges the countries of the region to get actively involved in order to get out of the current impasse.

    It also endorses Morocco's initiatives, including the creation of the National Council on Human Rights, and lauds the Kingdom's continued cooperation with the bodies of the UN Human Rights Council, he said.

    Fassi Fihri pointed out that the resolution makes no mention of extending the MINURSO’s mandate, nor of whatever mechanism to monitor human rights. On the contrary, he said, it raises, for the first time, Algeria’s responsibility for a census of the population of the Tindouf camps