The United States hopes to boost military ties and anti-terror cooperation with Morocco, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday.

Rumsfeld told Moroccan newspaper Le Matin that the United States was satisfied with the achievements in anti-terror cooperation with the North African country.

Through joint efforts, several terror groups in the region have been broken down, Rumsfeld said. However, he still expressed concern over terrorists' ability to launch new attacks in North Africa.

Rumsfeld said that under the framework of military cooperation between the two countries, Peter Rodman, U.S. Assistant to the Defense Secretary for International Security Affairs, had held regular meetings with senior officers of the Moroccan army. The regular meeting mechanism was also established between the U.S. European Command and Moroccan military.

The two countries are to lay stress on closer cooperation in anti-terrorism and peacekeeping, Rumsfeld said.

Morocco is the last stop of Rumsfeld's three-day North Africa tour. After visiting Tunisia and Algeria, Rumsfeld arrived in Morocco on Sunday night and held talks with Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou.

Several hundred Moroccan people staged an anti-U.S. protest in the capital Rabat over Rumsfeld's visit.

Source: Xinhua