"There are good ideas on the table, there are ways to move forward. We don't need to start over and I hope that we can move forward and get this resolved," Rice underlined during a joint press conference with her Moroccan counterpart, Taib Fassi Fihri following a meeting that touched, among others, on the Sahara issue and the situation in the Maghreb.

     "I talked to the UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon [about the Sahara issue] just before I left," said Rice.

      Rice who arrived in Morocco on Saturday for the last leg of a North African tour said there "will be a new round of negotiations that the U.S. will support."

       "We are looking for a mutually agreed solution to this problem, It is time that this problem be resolved," said the top U.S. diplomat, stressing the importance to improve relations between Algeria and Morocco.

       "It is extremely important that Algeria and Morocco have good relations to be able to trade information, particularly given some of the challenges the two face in the Maghreb," Rice stated, adding that "Libya and Tunisia share the same idea."
 
        The U.S. official said that she is to meet with Maghreban counterparts during the upcoming UNGA meeting in New York.

         Rice left Morocco Sunday ending her Maghreb tour which led her to Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria.