Rice hails business, security ties with Morocco

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with her Moroccan counterpart on Sunday to expand on their countries' close business and security ties. At the end of Rice's three-day visit to North Africa, she and Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri hailed "excellent" relations between their two countries, Morocco's state-run news agency, MAP, said. Talks addressed the pending issue of the Western Sahara, as well as Moroccan efforts to "achieve reforms in the political process and in terms of human rights," the agency said. Arriving from Algeria on Saturday, Rice met with Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas el Fassi for a late-night dinner, the iftar, which breaks the day's fast observed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.