Speaking at a meeting with Speaker of the House of Advisors Mustapha Oukacha, Somohardjo said his country's stance on the Sahara issue was taken by the regime that carried the 1980 coup d’état and which enjoyed the support of the Eastern bloc.
 
    Oukacha, on his part, said this visit will give new impetus to Moroccan-Surinam relations especially after a period of disagreement due to Surinam's old regime's recognition of "polisario", without knowing the reality of this issue".
 
    Morocco, he said, needs "the support of its friends in Surinam to implement the autonomy project that the Kingdom intends to implement in the southern provinces," as part of its efforts to put an end to the three-decade long dispute with the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario" that claims independence of the Sahara. The former Spanish colony was retrieved by the North African country in 1975 under the Madrid Accords signed with Spain and Mauritania.
 
    The two parties also seized this opportunity to underline the importance of this visit, which represents a prelude to parliamentary cooperation between the two countries and an occasion to consolidate the bonds between the two people and their representatives within the legislative institutions.