“We hope that Portugal does not fall into the Moroccan blackmail of violating international law and that it is what it has always been, a country that respects international law and respects the values of the Republic and the ideals of the ‘Carnation Revolution’. , and that it shows that friendship with Morocco does not necessarily mean complicity with this country against its neighbors and against international law,” Omar Mih told Lusa.
The representative of Polisário, a movement fighting for the independence of Western Sahara since 1973, a former Spanish colony until 1975, spoke to Lusa to comment on the 14th Portugal-Morocco High Level Meeting to be held in Lisbon on Friday.
“The Maghreb region, in particular the Sahrawi, Mauritanians and Algerians, will attend this meeting with great attention and draw conclusions from it that will determine the future of Portuguese-Maghreb relations,” the representative warned.
In this regard, and in a statement sent to Lusa today, the Portugal-Western Sahara Friendship Association defended that the meeting in Lisbon should not have the Sahrawi issue on its agenda, and should therefore focus on issues related to on relations between Luso and Moroccans at the international level. recognized boundaries”.
On Friday, the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, and his Moroccan counterpart, Aziz Akhannouch, will chair the high-level meeting, a format that was interrupted due to the covid-19 pandemic.
According to the Lisbon executive, in 2024 Portugal and Morocco will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the peace treaty and the 30th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbors and Cooperation.
Its aim is to promote “a strategic partnership between the two countries, whose historic ties are linked to solid levels of political, economic and cultural cooperation”.
“Focusing on the areas of knowledge, social cohesion and economic development, the meeting will focus on topics such as electrical interconnection and labor mobility. Several legal instruments will also be signed to strengthen the bilateral relationship and an economic forum will be held on the same day” , adds the same comment.
The last summit between the governments of Portugal and Morocco took place in Rabat in December 2017, when 12 bilateral cooperation agreements were signed.
Source: DN
