MOROCCO, March 11 - The European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, on Thursday deemed as "serious and credible" the efforts made by the Kingdom to achieve a lasting solution to the artificial conflict over the Moroccan Sahara.

"We consider positive the serious and credible efforts made by Morocco on this issue", as reflected in the 2019 UN Security Council resolution 2468, said the European official, during a joint press briefing with the Moroccan minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Nasser Bourita.

Reiterating the European Commission's support for the efforts of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, regarding the Sahara issue, Mr. Várhelyi, who held bilateral talks with Mr. Bourita, stressed that the European body is convinced of the need to continue the political process to achieve a "just, realistic, pragmatic, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution" to this issue.

"We encourage all parties to pursue this commitment, in a spirit of realism and compromise and in the framework of arrangements consistent with the purposes of the principles mentioned in the Charter of the United Nations, namely peaceful solutions", said the European official.

After their talks, Mr. Bourita and Várhelyi signed the document relating to the "LINK UP AFRICA" project, the first of its kind within the framework of the partnership between the Kingdom and the European Union.

MAP 10 March 2022