Morocco, UK Hold Talks to Boost Ties

British Envoy for the UK-African Investment Summit 2024 (UK-AIS), Alastair McPhail holding talks in Rabat with Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (Morocco’s Foreign Ministry)
British Envoy for the UK-African Investment Summit 2024 (UK-AIS), Alastair McPhail holding talks in Rabat with Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (Morocco’s Foreign Ministry)
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Morocco, UK Hold Talks to Boost Ties

British Envoy for the UK-African Investment Summit 2024 (UK-AIS), Alastair McPhail holding talks in Rabat with Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (Morocco’s Foreign Ministry)
British Envoy for the UK-African Investment Summit 2024 (UK-AIS), Alastair McPhail holding talks in Rabat with Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (Morocco’s Foreign Ministry)

The British Envoy for the UK-African Investment Summit 2024 (UK-AIS), Alastair McPhail, expressed on Wednesday eagerness to building a modern partnership of mutual benefit with Morocco.

“We look forward to building a modern partnership of mutual benefit based on respect with Morocco and others,” McPhail told the press after his talks with Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

This comes ahead of the UK-African Investment Summit, scheduled to take place in London on April 23-24.

UK-AIS 2024 will bring together political and business leaders from the UK and invited countries, as well as representatives of international and regional organizations, building on the results of the 2020 summit and virtual conferences in 2021 and 2022.

The two countries have decades-old trade and economic ties. Also, thousands of British tourists visit Morocco every year.



Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.