The statement was made by Mexican official on the fringes of his meeting with visiting Moroccan Foreign Minister, Mohamed Benaissa and chairman of the Advisory Council of Sahara Issues (CORCAS), Khalihenna Ould Errachid.

    Morocco's plan to grant autonomy to its Southern Provinces, through "negotiations and a political" consensus, leads the way towards a "global solution" to the Sahara issue", said Zermano a visiting Moroccan delegation.

    The Sahara conflict broke out in 1976 when the Algeria-backed separatist movement "Polisario"laid claims to the Sahara, a former colony ceded by Spain to Morocco a year earlier under the Madrid Accord signed with Spain and Mauritania.

     Mexican Foreign Minister had  affirmed earlier that Mexico awaits with “great interest” Morocco's plan to grant autonomy to its Southern Provinces (the Sahara) in a bid to solve the three-decade-old dispute with the Algeria-backed Polisario separatists over the former Spanish colony.

    The delegation had ALSO met with top officials in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Columbia part of a diplomatic action to explain the proposal before submitting it to the UN Security Council in April.