RABAT: Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has accepted US President Donald Trump’s invitation to join his “Board of Peace” as a founding member, the Moroccan foreign ministry said on Monday.
“Welcoming President Donald Trump’s commitment and vision to promoting peace,” the monarch “has graciously accepted this invitation,” the ministry said in a statement published by MAP news agency, adding the country would “ratify the charter establishing this board.”
The US-led initiative aims to “contribute to peace efforts in the Middle East and adopt a new approach to resolving conflicts around the world,” it said.
The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but its charter does not appear to limit its role to the Palestinian territory.
The board’s charter, seen by AFP, says that member countries — represented on the board by their head of state or government — would be allowed to join for three years or longer if they paid more than $1 billion within the first year.
The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The initial reaction from two key allies, France and Canada, was lukewarm.
Others who have received invitations to join the new board, such as Putin, have not yet announced whether they will accept.
Morocco’s king accepts invitation to join Trump ‘peace board’: statement
https://arab.news/2qkkb
Morocco’s king accepts invitation to join Trump ‘peace board’: statement
- The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but its charter does not appear to limit its role to the Palestinian territory
Morocco’s energy ministry puts gas pipeline project on hold
- The country’s natural gas demand is expected to rise to 8 billion cubic meters in 2027 from around 1 bcm currently, according to ministry estimates
RABAT: Morocco’s energy ministry said on Monday it has paused a tender launched last month for a gas pipeline project, without giving details on the reasons for the suspension.
The tender sought bids to build a pipeline linking a future gas terminal at the Nador West Med port on the Mediterranean to an existing pipeline that allows Morocco to import LNG through Spanish terminals and supply two power plants.
It also covered a section that would connect the existing pipeline to industrial zones on the Atlantic in Mohammedia and Kenitra.
“Due to new parameters and assumptions related to this project... the ministry of energy transition and sustainable development is postponing the receipt of applications and the opening of bids received as of today,” the ministry said in a statement.
Morocco is looking to expand its use of natural gas to diversify away from coal as it also accelerates its renewable energy plan, which aims for renewables to account for 52 percent of installed capacity by 2030, up from 45 percent now.
The country’s natural gas demand is expected to rise to 8 billion cubic meters in 2027 from around 1 bcm currently, according to ministry estimates.
