"While it supports Morocco's territorial integrity, Guinea-Bissau backs the Moroccan initiative to grant substantial autonomy to the Sahara Provinces, with a view to reachong a final settlement (of the conflict), and voices satisfaction, in this respect, at the UN-led negotiations under way," said a joint statement released on Friday at the end of the second joint Morocco-Guinea Bissau commission, held on February 28-29.

    Morocco and Polisario are scheduled to hold a fourth round of negotiations later this month in Manhasset (New York outskirts). The three previous UN-sponsored rounds were held in June, August and January. The negotiations process was launched in response to the UN Security Council resolution 1754 which called upon the parties to enter into negotiations "without preconditions" and "in good faith."

    Moroccan Foreign Minister, Taieb Fassi Fihri, said, following the meeting, that Guinea-Bissau, which had frozen its recognition of the phony "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic" (SADR) in April 1997, reiterated "full support" for Morocco's territorial integrity and for the Moroccan proposal to grant the Sahara region substantial autonomy under the north African country's sovereignty.

    The proposal was submitted by Morocco to the UN last year in a bid to bring an end to the conflict over the Sahara. The former Spanish colony was retrieved by Rabat in 1975 under the Madrid Accord. A year later, the Polisario started laying claims to the territory.

    During the joint commission’s meeting, co-chaired by the two countries’ Foreign Ministers, Taieb Fassi Fihri and Maria Da Conceiçao Nobre Cabral, the two parties examined and maintained a number of projects and actions to be jointly carried out and agreed to boost their bilateral relations in all fields to establish a dynamic partnership.

    The two parties underlined that substantive progress has been made in bilateral cooperation since the fist joint commission held in 1996, calling for private operators of the two countries to redouble efforts to give new momentum to multifold cooperation. They also stressed the need to set up South-South inter-African cooperation enabling the countries of the South to face the effects of globalization.

    Mrs. Maria Da Conceiçao Nobre Cabral highlighted, in a meeting with Moroccan Tourism Minister, Mohammed Boussaid, that her country is keen to benefit from Moroccan experience particularly in the area of training and financing, given the fact that “Guinea-Bissau has enormous tourism potential and Morocco has important experience in the field”, she said.