Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement between India & Morocco
Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement between India & Morocco
- K. Sachdeva
Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters that will enhance cooperation in the service of summons, judicial documents, letters of request, and the execution of judgments, decrees and arbitral awards was signed by the visiting Moroccan Minister of Justice Mohamed Aujjar and Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Monday 12 November 2018 in New Delhi. Two countries have also affirmed that they will jointly fight threats from ISIS under their counter-terror partnership.
Indian home affairs ministry said that the purpose of this agreement is to “strengthen bilateral cooperation with Morocco and enhance effectiveness and provide a broad legal framework for prevention, investigation and prosecution of crimes; as well as in tracing, restraint and confiscation of funds meant to finance terrorist acts,” and added
“India believes in the necessity of enhancing the domain of mutual cooperation with Morocco and realising the importance of broadening the aspects of cooperation between both the countries in civil and commercial matters”.
Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on 8 November 2018 approved the Agreement between India and Morocco on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters with the following salient features:
- Service of summons and other judicial documents or processes;
- Taking of evidence in civil matters;
- Production, identification or examination of documents, recordings;
- Execution of a Letter of Request for taking of evidence in civilmatters; and
- Recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards.
The spirit, essence and language of the agreement is that it will be beneficial for the citizens of both the countries and fulfil the desire of both the countries to strengthen the bonds of friendship and fruitful cooperation in the Civil and Commercial matters.
“Morocco has a well-established school of counter-terrorism, which is globally recognised. We have counter-terror cooperation including bilateral legal arrangements with major countries to fight terror. Given the expansion in ties with India and mutual interest, we decided to sign these treaties with Delhi, taking our counter-terror partnership to the next level,” said Moroccan Minister of Justice Mohamed Aujjar
Morocco is Africa’s second biggest economy. Ties of India and African countries are from pre-independence era. India and Morocco have enjoyed cordial and friendly relations and over the years bilateral relations have witnessed significant depth and growth. Both nations are part of the Non-Aligned Movement. In the United Nations, India supported the decolonization of Morocco and the Moroccan freedom movement. India recognized Morocco on June 20, 1956 and established relations in 1957.
“Islam is against terrorism and this is a message that Morocco led by its King is trying to propagate. There is a wrong interpretation of jihad that is being propagated, instead of a jihad against poverty. Islam forbids killing of human beings. In Morocco, we have been practicing right values of Islam, which encompass compassion and kindness,” the minister said, adding, “Morocco’s de-radicalisation initiatives have been lauded by the international community. We pursue a multidimensional counter-terror strategy that has three distinct stands – intelligence gathering; socio-economic reforms; and reform of religious schools.”