MARRAKESH, Morocco: President Hosni Mubarak and Morocco s King Mohammed VI called on the so-called quartet of Middle East negotiators to renew efforts for peace in the region, in a joint declaration released Saturday. The statement, issued at the close of a three-day visit by Mubarak, said the leaders call on the international community and the Quartet to work to implement resolutions of international legality in order to bring peace to the Middle East, following the Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories. Mubarak and Mohammed also called for an Arab peace initiative for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and backed the roadmap for peace laid out by the quartet, which comprises the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States. They also underlined their rejection of unilateral solutions, an apparent reference to Israel s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and its planned retreat from most of the West Bank. The two leaders noted other major diplomatic issues in their Marrakesh declaration, calling for a definitive solution to the question of Moroccan-held Western Sahara, a plan against terrorism and a resolution of the conflict in Iraq. They also backed the search for effective solutions to the problem of illegal immigration. Morocco will host a conference of European and African officials on the matter on July 10 and 11 in Rabat. A day earlier, Mohammed and Mubarak signed a range of cooperation accords and agreed to bolster flagging trade ties between their states. The Mubarak visit was accompanied by a session of an Egyptian-Moroccan joint commission aimed at boosting trade, and especially taking steps to alleviate Morocco s heavy deficit with its North African partner.
Mubarak left for Egypt Saturday following the trip. Agencies
