Morocco's King Mohammed VI has invited Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the North African country.
The invitation came in a message of thanks issued on Wednesday after Israel recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region.
“You are welcome to make a visit to Morocco on dates at our mutual best convenience, to be defined through diplomatic channels,” the King wrote.
Mr Netanyahu revealed his decision on the mineral-rich desert region in a letter cited by Rabat's royal office on Monday.
Israeli-Moroccan co-operation on security, trade and tourism is growing.
The meeting “will permit the opening of new possibilities in bilateral relations between Morocco and Israel”, the King said.
He hailed Israel's decision and said the Western Sahara issue was “the national cause of the kingdom and the priority of its foreign policy”.
Morocco administers about 80 per cent of the 266,000-square-kilometre desert region. The remainder of the sparsely-populated area is held by the Algeria-backed self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a breakaway state which is not recognised by the UN.
Rabat's sovereignty over the region is supported by several Arab states, African nations and the US.
Land borders between Algeria and Morocco have been shut since the early 1990s over security concerns.
Earlier this year, King Mohammed invited Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune for talks in Rabat to end the tensions. The King did not attend the first Arab League summit in three years when it was hosted by Algeria last November.
Morocco resumed ties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords in 2020, encouraged by then-US president Donald Trump, who recognised Rabat's rule over the Western Sahara region.
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
