Chief Archivist Ruti Avramovitz and Morocco National Archives Director Dr. Jamaa Baida, last Wednesday (26 July 2023), in Rabat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between their two institutions. The MOU is pursuant to the August 2021 bilateral culture, sport and youth cooperation agreement and is part of the benefits of the 2022 peace agreement between Israel and Morocco which was brought about by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and King Mohammed VI.
The goal of the agreement is to develop and make effective use of the historical, cultural, and heritage-related archival collections in both archives. This will be accomplished by sharing professional knowledge, work methods, archival research, and additional areas of interest.
Chief Archivist Abramovitz:
"Signing the MOU in Rabat was very moving and had been meticulously planned by Dr. Baida and myself. It underscores the strength of the peace between the two countries and peoples.
The agreement with the Moroccan archives will expand the international working relationships of the State Archives, which aspires to set the standard for the archival discipline in Israel."
Under the agreement, the two archives will share knowledge about managing registries, preservation, restoring and strengthening the archival heritage, identifying and describing documents of mutual interest, training in the fields of knowledge expertise, and writing joint publications.
The signing ceremony was attended by Israeli Ambassador to Morocco David Govrin, Deputy Ambassador Eyal David, and Rabat Jewish Community President David Toledano.