Abdel Latif El-Baz – Heba Press
The Moroccan ambassador to Italy, Malta, Albania and San Marino, Youssef Balla, paid a working visit to Sicily, in the south of the country, during which he discussed with Italian regional officials the city of Palermo axes of decentralized cooperation and issues of common interest.
On the sidelines of his visit to the city of Palermo, the Moroccan ambassador held a meeting with the mayor of the city, Roberto Lagala, during which it was discussed strengthening regional cooperation and exchanging experiences and good practices in urban management, particularly in the field of smart cities, were discussed.
During this meeting, Lagala expressed his “admiration” at the level of progress made by the Kingdom in several sectors, welcoming the contribution of the Moroccan community of Palermo, considered a model of integration and a humanitarian bridge between Sicily and Morocco.
In this context, the two officials reviewed a number of future cooperation projects, notably the twinning project between the cities of Palermo and Tangier, stressing that decentralized cooperation between Morocco and Italy is of a strategic nature for both countries.
On the other hand, Youssef Bala had talks at the headquarters of the Regional Parliament of Sicily with the vice-president of this legislative institution, Luisa Annunziata Lantieri.
On this occasion, Lantieri praised the stability of the Kingdom and its role in strengthening the Mediterranean partnership.
In this context, she stressed that Morocco and Sicily share an interest in the Mediterranean dimension and must intensify their efforts to give bilateral Mediterranean relations the status they deserve.
The two officials also discussed ways to strengthen parliamentary relations through the scheduling of exchange visits, the activation of the memorandum of understanding between the two legislative institutions and the creation of a Moroccan-Italian parliamentary friendship group. .
