WASHINGTON — Rep. Keith Ellison will speak on the Middle East peace process and the future of Afghanistan this week in Morocco — a country that many hold up as an example of a modern, moderate, majority-Muslim nation.

Ellison will be a featured speaker at the MEDays conference in Tangier, a modern city of about 700,000 on the northern Mediterranean coast of Morocco.

The area has long-standing ties to the U.S. — The first American foreign consulate opened in Tangier during the Washington administration. Additionally, the current U.S. ambassador to Morocco, Sam Kaplan, is a Minneapolis native.

Ellison has been a frequent traveller to Africa and the Middle East on trips aimed at formenting democracy there and bridging the gap between the Islamic world and the West. His most recent journey came over the July 4th recess, when he went to Senegal, Liberia, Kenya and Tanzania.