Israel and Morocco to collaborate on environment

Tel Aviv [Israel], June 25 (ANI/TPS): Israel and Morocco have agreed to expand cooperation on environment and climate issues.

This was announced after a trip to Rabat this weekend by Israel's Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, whose parents immigrated to Israel from Morocco as children.

Silman met with Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development of Morocco Leila Benali in the capital of the North African nation on Friday. It marked the first visit there by an Israeli environment minister since the signing of the Abraham Accords.

The memorandum of understanding that will be inked by the two governments will include a framework for cooperation between research institutions, entrepreneurs and public and private bodies, Israel's Energy Ministry said in a statement.

"The strengthening of working relations between the governments in the area of environmental protection will add another layer of the deep connection between the Moroccan and Israeli people," Silman said after the meeting.

"Morocco and Israel have similar challenges in the field of waste management, renewable energies, preservation of the marine and coastal environment, and more, and I believe that creating a common professional language regarding the issues of climate and sustainability is an important aim," the minister added.

The meeting was also attended by the Israeli Environment Ministry's Director General Guy Samet and Deputy Director General Yonatan Oz, Ambassador to Morocco Shai Cohen and Deputy Ambassador Eyal David.

Silman also visited a synagogue in Rabat.

Israel and Morocco normalized relations in December 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

An estimated one million Israelis are either from Morocco or are of Moroccan descent. Approximately 3,000 Jews currently live in the North African country.

More than 200,000 Israelis visited Morocco in 2022, as coronavirus travel restrictions came to an end. (ANI/TPS)