Israel’s Minister of the Interior and Health, Moshe Arbel, and his counterpart from Morocco, Khalid Ait Taleb, have agreed to ease mutual visa requirements in order to permit a larger number of Moroccans to work in Israel.
In addition, both ministers have signed new agreements on tourism, and hiring of workers, among others, as part of efforts to further strengthen cooperation between both territories, VisaGuide.World reports.
According to local media reports, about 200,000 Israelis are expected to travel to Morocco this year, thus accounting for a significant increase compared to 70,000 travelers who visited the North African country last year.
Jerusalem is attempting to permit workers from Morocco to be employed in specific fields including in the construction sectors among others.
Minister Arbel also signed an agreement in order to establish cooperation in health fields between both territories.
“We are deepening our ties with Morocco and pouring more substance into the peace agreement. Israel and Morocco share challenges on health issues, and cooperation in the field will contribute greatly to improving healthcare capabilities and to citizens’ health,” Arbel noted.
Recently, Israel strengthened its relations with Morocco through high-level visits as well as military collaborations.
The normalization of relations between both territories has a significant impact on several high-potential industries between both territories, taking also into account the tourism industry.
“During these two years, our two respective countries have progressed a lot, politically, culturally, and economically. There were also many Israeli tourists who came to visit Morocco, as well as official delegations. We have also signed several agreements in different areas. I think it’s a very good start, and I’m looking forward to next year,” diplomatic sources previously said, according to Atalayar report.
The same source revealed that the tourism industry marked significant improvement, from 39,900 visitors registered before the pandemic to over 200,000 travelers registered last year.
In addition, Morocco signed similar agreements with other countries such as Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Jordan, and Sudan.
At the same time, the tourism sector in Israel marked a notable improvement, after being highly affected by COVID-related restrictions.
The figures of the Tourism Ministry revealed that for a period between January and October last year, more than two million visitors traveled to Israel while stressing that the number of tourists was set to reach about 2.5 million by the end of last year.
The figures of the Ministry revealed that in the first nine months of last year, about 2,078,000 visitors reached Israel, while the Ministry noted that it expects a new record between 2.4 to 2.6 million arrivals by the end of last year.