Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a written statement on his social media account, “Last weekend, I agreed with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on the first official visit to Morocco, within the framework of re-establishing full diplomatic relations between the two countries.”
Pointing out that his official visit will be at the end of this month, Lapid said “The visit will take place after the opening of direct flights to Morocco at the end of this month. This is a historical event. I would like to thank King Mohammed VI of Morocco for his role in encouraging the visit and renewing relations.”.
Emphasizing that this visit will be a starting point for tourism, trade, and comprehensive economic and political cooperation agreements between the two countries, Lapid said, “After I visit Morocco, Minister Bourita will visit Israel to open his country’s diplomatic mission.”
Moroccan authorities have not yet made a statement regarding Lapid’s announcement.
Low-level relations between Rabat and Tel Aviv started after the Oslo Agreement was signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1993, but Morocco stopped these relations in 2002 after the outbreak of the 2nd Intifada.
Moroccan King Mohammed VI announced on December 10, 2020, that relations with Israel would be established “as soon as possible.” On the same day, US President Donald Trump announced that Morocco and Israel had reached an agreement to establish full diplomatic relations.
Morocco and Israel signed 4 agreements on December 22, 2020, within the scope of the normalization of diplomatic relations.
Following the agreement to normalize relations between Tel Aviv and Rabat last year, Israel appointed former Cairo Ambassador David Govrin as the interim head of the diplomatic mission to Morocco on January 11.
