The extensive interest of the Kingdom with Portuguese submarines, where the process of purchasing it in an official capacity by the "Lisbon government" is initiated during the past few days, in order to enhance its maritime military arsenal, in light of the joint maritime maneuvers that it brought together in the Portuguese forces, which took place on the two submarines "Arpão" and“Tredente”, where Moroccan forces were allowed to operate a number of Portuguese submarines during training.
According to the Portuguese news agency, "Losa", many members of the Moroccan navy were located on the joint maritime maneuvers between the two countries, in order to help Morocco develop its marine capabilities, according to the statements of Joao Gomez Cravinho, the Portuguese National Defense, who received its counterpartMoroccan, Abdel Latif Ludi, last Friday.
The diplomatic meeting, which took about an hour, revealed the newspaper "Observador" some of its features, explaining that the bilateral program included a visit to the shipyard, which bears the name "L'Arsenal de l'olfeite", which is the factory designated for building and repairing military marine ships,As well as visiting the naval base of Lisbon.
In this regard, Joao Gomez Cravinho, Minister of Defense of the Republic of Portugal, said, “The meeting discussed ways to enhance military cooperation between the navy of the two countries, and also with regard to the maintenance of military ships, especially since the shipbuilding basin that we have is working to develop submarine capabilities, on the authority ofMorocco has become interested in enhancing its marine capabilities..
The Portuguese official added, according to the statements reported by the newspaper widespread, that "relations between the two countries are already old, as the government hopes to maintain its continuity," stressing that the Kingdom "intends to buy military submarines, which made it want to know the ways of using and maintaining them from neighboring countries,Because Moroccan submarines are directed to work in the same regions, which necessitates the necessity of knowing their technical characteristics, and also to exchange data ”.
The bilateral meeting also touched on the joint challenges between the two countries, so that the Portuguese Minister of Defense stated that “there are unified fears between Portugal and Morocco, especially with regard to Euro-Africa relations, then coordination regarding immigration flows, as well as fighting terrorist cells, which indicates that there are strategic geo challengesbetween two sides".
Official talks also highlighted "the presence of the two countries within the missions of the United Nations, especially in the Central African Republic", where the Portuguese Minister of Defense confirmed that "his Moroccan counterpart indicated the intention of the Moroccan forces to continue to remain within the aforementioned Republic, and the same is applied to the Congo."Resource that "Portugal will continue to work within the United Nations missions, but it cannot exist in all places, however it is primarily that there are other forces in the areas where there is no stability.".