In a joint communiqué issued at the end of talks between Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, and Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Tanja Fajon, the two parties expressed their satisfaction with the quality of the distinguished relations between the two countries, reiterating their shared willingness to continue to strengthen and develop them further.
Welcoming Slovenia’s decision to open a resident embassy in Rabat, and Morocco’s intention to take a reciprocal step, the two ministers agreed that this opening would give a strong impetus to cooperation between the two countries.
The two ministers agreed on the importance of giving fresh impetus to economic cooperation in areas of common interest such as energy, environment, logistics, agriculture, automotive industry and green technologies, and of organizing economic forums to encourage interaction between economic players in the two countries. They also stressed the importance of boosting cooperation between the port of Koper and all Moroccan ports, in particular the Tanger-Med port.
On the subject of parliamentary cooperation, both sides noted the importance of inter-parliamentary contacts, which play an essential role in enhancing bilateral relations, and welcomed the official visit made by the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia to Morocco in November 2022, upon the invitation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the signing, during the official visit, of a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions.
They also underscored the need to intensify contacts and cooperation between the parliamentary friendship groups, ahead of the visit to Ljubljana by the Speaker of the House of Representatives in December.
At the cultural level, the two Ministers stressed the importance of bilateral cooperation in the cultural and academic field for the promotion of human and economic development, as well as for the strengthening of exchanges at intergovernmental and civil society level.
On the migration issue, the two Ministers recalled the excellent ties between the Republic of Slovenia and the Kingdom of Morocco in security and migration and underlined their mutual commitment to further strengthen dialogue and cooperation in this regard.
Both sides also expressed their support for a comprehensive approach to migration and the promotion of a safe, legal and orderly migration.
In this context, Morocco and Slovenia expressed their commitment to enhance their cooperation in fighting illegal migration, human smuggling and trafficking, and agreed to effectively address the migratory pressure as a common challenge and shared responsibility.
In this regard, Slovenia expressed its recognition of Morocco’s efforts during its 2023 chairmanship of the Rabat Process, in particular fostering return and sustainable reintegration.
The two Ministers also expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation on safe returns, readmission (including the process of identification and issuance of travel documents) and sustainable reintegration.
In this vein, the two parties agreed to establish a regular high-level bilateral dialogue on migration between their competent national authorities, through the setting up of an appropriate consultation and cooperation mechanism for a regular exchange of information, notably to resolve return cases and optimize the readmission process.
The Slovenian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs is paying an official visit to Morocco, at the invitation of Bourita, to mark the 32nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Republic of Slovenia.
