Speaker of the House of Advisors, Hakim Benchamach discussed, Tuesday in Santo Domingo, with speaker of the Senate of the Dominican Republic, Reinaldo Pared, ways to strengthen relations between the two countries and South-South cooperation between Africa and Latin America.

During this meeting, Benchamach stressed the importance Morocco attaches to strengthening cooperation relations with the Dominican Republic and the countries of Central America as well as the Caribbean in general, noting that given their geographical positions, the two countries can constitute a bridge between Latin America and Africa.

He stressed the common points between the two countries, which are likely to further strengthen bilateral links, calling to capitalize on these potentialities to raise these relations to the level of a model partnership between the two countries.

The meeting was also an opportunity to review the important reforms undertaken by Morocco in the field of democracy, underlining that the Kingdom constitutes a model of political stability, thanks to the enlightened vision of HM King Mohammed VI.

He also recalled the historic visit made in December 2004 by HM the King to the Dominican Republic, stressing the importance of parliamentary cooperation in promoting and consolidating Moroccan-Dominican relations.

The speaker of the upper house took this opportunity to commend the Dominican Republic's consistent position on the territorial integrity of the Kingdom and its support for efforts to find a consensual political solution to the regional conflict over the Moroccan Sahara.

For his part, the speaker of the Dominican Senate reiterated his country's willingness to give new impetus to bilateral cooperation relations in different areas of common interest, calling for the development of concrete projects and action plans, including twinning agreements between cities in the southern provinces of the Kingdom and Dominican cities.

This meeting took place on the sidelines of Benchamach's participation in the "Annual Regional Forums" of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen).