{"id":770594,"date":"2026-07-18T17:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T17:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/770594\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T17:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T17:27:09","slug":"morocco-uae-win-inaugural-america-250-founders-promise-award-at-us-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/770594\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco, UAE Win Inaugural America 250 Founders\u2019 Promise Award at US Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Marrakech \u2013 Morocco and the United Arab Emirates became the first countries to receive international recognition as part of the United States\u2019 250th independence anniversary celebrations. The two nations won the inaugural America 250 Founders\u2019 Promise Award during an official session at the US Senate in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>As <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alkhaleej.ae\/2026-07-17\/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA\/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1\/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%B3%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%A7\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reported<\/a> by the Emirati state news agency WAM, the announcement came at the closing of the America 250: Building on the Legacy and Promise of Religious Freedom Forum.<\/p>\n<p>The IRF Peace Builders Forum organized the two-day event from July 16-17. Day one took place at the Museum of the Bible, while the Senate hosted the closing session. Members of Congress, State Department officials, religious leaders, diplomats, policymakers, and international experts attended.<\/p>\n<p>The award was created specifically for the America 250 celebrations. It honors countries that have made exceptional contributions to advancing religious freedom, equal citizenship, human dignity, minority rights, and a culture of coexistence and peace.<\/p>\n<p>The organizing committee, chaired by Greg Mitchell, founder and CEO of the International Religious Freedom Secretariat, selected Morocco in recognition of its \u201chistorical legacy\u201d in its relationship with the United States. The committee also cited the kingdom\u2019s role in \u201cconsolidating religious <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moroccoworldnews.com\/2026\/07\/330011\/morocco-us-renew-pledge-to-defeat-terrorist-groups-across-region\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">moderation<\/a>,\u201d promoting \u201ccitizenship values,\u201d and preserving \u201creligious and cultural diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That history runs deep. Morocco was the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moroccoworldnews.com\/2026\/06\/317475\/us-celebrates-250-years-of-independence-historic-friendship-with-morocco\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">first country<\/a> in the world to recognize American independence. In December 1777, Sultan Mohammed III opened Moroccan ports to American ships while the Revolutionary War was still underway.<\/p>\n<p>The two countries formalized their relationship through the 1786 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, negotiated in Marrakech and signed by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Congress ratified the treaty in 1787. It remains the longest unbroken bilateral agreement in US history.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Humanitarian diplomacy\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The UAE received the award for its national model of translating \u201cvalues of tolerance, coexistence and interfaith dialogue\u201d into policies, institutions, and initiatives with \u201cglobal impact,\u201d according to the organizing committee. The committee noted the UAE\u2019s contribution to \u201chumanitarian diplomacy\u201d and building \u201cbridges of trust and cooperation among peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The forum\u2019s opening session featured addresses by Senator Jim Lankford, Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Riley Barnes, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Lord Rals Rock, a member of the British House of Lords, also spoke.<\/p>\n<p>Ambassador Sheikh Al-Mahfoudh bin Bayyah, Secretary General of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, addressed the opening session. He presented the forum\u2019s work in \u201cprotecting religious minorities\u201d and promoting \u201cequal citizenship.\u201d He pointed to the Moroccan and Emirati experiences as two models in \u201cconsolidating peace and coexistence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bin Bayyah referenced the landmark 2016 Marrakech Declaration, a joint initiative between Morocco\u2019s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs and the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace.<\/p>\n<p>More than 250 Muslim religious leaders from over 120 countries endorsed the declaration, which drew on the principles of the Charter of Medina to defend minority rights in Muslim-majority countries. The 13th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit in Istanbul later adopted it.<\/p>\n<p>The declaration, Bin Bayyah noted, represents \u201cthe first contemporary institutional revival\u201d of the Charter of Medina\u2019s principles of \u201ccitizenship, religious pluralism and peaceful coexistence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read also: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moroccoworldnews.com\/2026\/07\/327863\/moroccos-frigate-mohammed-vi-joins-naval-review-for-us-250th-anniversary\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Morocco\u2019s Frigate Mohammed VI Joins Naval Review for US 250th Anniversary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marrakech \u2013 Morocco and the United Arab Emirates became the first countries to receive international recognition as part&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,57362,328914,328915,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-770594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-america-250","tag-morocco-and-the-us","tag-morocco-and-uae","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}