By Reem Tombookti and Hadi Fornaji.
Rabat/Tripoli 7 October 2013:
At a meeting this morning in the Moroccan capital Rabat, Ali Zeidan and . . .[restrict]the Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane agreed to strengthen economic and commercial collaboration as well as closer security ties. Speaking to reporters afterwards, the Libyan Prime Minister said that Libya could benefit from the Moroccan experience in reconstruction and development projects.
The two prime ministers also discussed the importance of strengthening the Arab Maghreb Union and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States in order to improve development and progress in the region.
Zeidan was quoted by the Libyan news agency LANA saying that there had to be comprehensive development in North Africa and the Sahel region, but that attention also had to be paid to regional security, including the fight against crime and illegal immigration.
The Libyan Prime Minister arrived the Moroccan capital Rabat yesterday evening, along with the Libyan Ministers of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Economy and the Minister of Islamic Affairs and Religious Endowments.
The Morocccan media has called the visit one of “work and friendship”.
For their part, the Libyan Minister of Economy and his Moroccan counterpart today discussed “cooperation on contracts”.
Later this afternoon, Zeidan met with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
Zeidan told the monarch that Libya was determined to move forward towards democracy and the rule of law and justice. The king, in response, said that Morocco was following “with great interest” the ongoing political transition in Libya and was willing to help wherever it could.
King Mohammed and Zeidan were reported to have expressed satisfaction at the current state of relations but wished to see them grow further. [/restrict]