Morocco participated in the High-Level Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Defense of the Mano River Union (MRU) on Monday in Monrovia, in Liberia upon the invitation of MRU’s member states.
During the meeting, the MRU participants discussed political, economic, social, security, and institutional issues. Discussions also included the mobility of people and goods and the implementation of the institutional framework of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The parties also addressed a single currency project and means to strengthen the institutional capacity of the MRU Secretariat.
The attendees at the opening ceremony of the meeting were Liberia’s President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and ministers and experts from delegations of Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Ambassador Mohamed Methqal, Director General of the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation led the Moroccan delegation which included Morocco’s Ambassador to Guinea and Sierra Leone, Isam Taïb.
During the meeting, Methqal affirmed “Morocco’s readiness to continue supporting MRU member states and the MRU Secretariat bilaterally, regionally, and multilaterally.”
In a joint press release, the ministers commended Morocco’s “significant role” as a “strategic and historical bilateral” partner to MRU member states, and its steadfast support to the secretariat of this sub-regional organization.
Morocco has been an observer member of the Mano River Union since 2002, following its facilitation of mediation between Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea to restore trust and peace in the region, thereby ending conflicts that hindered relations between these countries.