Rabat – By putting forward in 2007 its autonomy initiative in the southern provinces as a political solution to the Sahara issue, Morocco has managed “a breakthrough” in view of the situation of deadlock that this issue has gone through, Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad Dine El Otmani said on Friday in Rabat.
The international community welcomed the Moroccan initiative, calling it a realistic, serious, credible solution, which is consistent with international standards and taking the same meaning as the principle of self-determination and territorial integrity, he said before the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Border and Occupied Areas, and National Defense, met to consider the department’s budget.
The changes underway in the Arab region and Maghreb, he noted, unequivocally demonstrates the relevance of the Moroccan initiative for the settlement of this artificial regional conflict as a form of self-determination.
He recalled the royal speech of 6 November 2011 to mark the 36th anniversary of the Green March, in which the Sovereign expressed the Kingdom’s determination to act in cooperation with the U.N., for a lasting political solution mutually acceptable to the Sahara issue, within the framework of national unity and territorial integrity of Morocco.
In this regard, El Otmani reiterated the commitment of the Moroccan diplomacy to continue its ongoing action to defend the country’s territorial integrity.
Members of the Committee stressed, during the meeting, the need to increase the budget of the Foreign Department to better support the effort to promote action in defense of national issues and priorities of the country’s foreign policy.
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