Maldives, Morocco sign 4 agreements; incl. a visa waiver deal

Maldives and Morocco have signed a visa waiver agreement, which is to take effect from 31st January 2020.

The agreement was signed during Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid’s ongoing visit to the country, on Friday.

The visa waiver agreement is one of the four signed during the visit. The other agreements signed were; agreement for Islamic Cooperation between the Ministry of Islamic Affairs of Maldives and Ministry of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs of Morocco, on Cooperation between Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Morocco as well as an MoU between the Foreign Service Institute of the Republic of Maldives and the Foreign Service Academy of the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco.

While Minister Shahid signed the agreements on the Maldivian government’s behalf, his counterpart Nasser Bourita signed for the Moroccan government.

Taking to Twitter, the foreign minister said that he was delighted to sign the visa waiver agreement and added that it this is “another momentous milestone for Maldives-Moroccos relations.”

The two also met and held discussions on Friday morning, and spoke on “a wide range of issues of mutual interest.”

The ministers also reiterated commitment to further strengthen the bilateral partnership between the two countries in areas such as economic cooperation, people to people contact, culture and heritage, counter-terrorism and radicalization, education and climates change.

Shahid also handed a letter to Bourita, to be delivered to King Mohammed VI from President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Minister Shahid was accompanied by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Khaleel, Ambassador of Maldives to UAE Dr. Hussain Niyaaz, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Shiaan and Assistant Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Moomina Ibrahim.