King Mohammed VI continues to remain absent from the Arab League summit. He did not attend the summit scheduled today in the capital of Jordan. Yet, Salaheddine Mezouar Minister of Foreign affairs and Cooperation participated in the regional organization's event to represent the Kingdom among the 21 countries. Morocco has significantly reduced its presence during the 28th summit of the Arab League. Unlike expectations, King Mohammed VI decided not to attend the summit. However, Salaheddine Mezouar was tasked to represent the Kingdom during the two day event. After King Abdullah of Jordan visited Morocco last week, many media platforms thought that the king would attend the Arab League summit. Unlikely, Morocco is not interested in the Egypt-based organization that failed last year to meet its goals and fell short of expectations. Priorities It is clear that the Arab league is not listed as one of the priorities of King Mohammed VI. Since he ascended to the throne in July 1999 after the death of his father King Hassan II, the country has not hosted any Arab League summit. For the record, the Kingdom abandoned its plans to organize the 27th Arab League summit last year at the last moment. For the Arab region, the King has shown interest in Jordan and the Gulf countries. Morocco has established strong relations that were reflected through regular messages between the King and the heads of states of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC). The latest of these messages was transmitted on Sunday 26th of March by Mezouar on his last visit to Qatar. Morocco has also shown support to Bahrein on several occasions. On the other hand, the Kingdom has very cold ties with the other members of the Arab League. The last time King Mohammed VI attended an Arab League summit dates back to 2005. A presence that was preceded by several messages from Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to normalize the relations between the two countries.
