Macron Visits Morocco: New Chapter in Bilateral Relations

French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Morocco on Monday for his three day state visit as the guest of Morocco’s King Mohammed VI; a visit that will signal a new era in the bilateral political relationship of the two countries. The visit comes after Paris reversed its position on the status of Western Sahara in which Morocco has been with the Polisario Front, the Saharawi liberation movement. The trip is hoped to help improve diplomatic relations and examine measures towards improving trade, the war on climate change and immigration.

Paris has changed its diplomatic policy on the issue of Western Sahara and thus creating new avenues for cooperation. French support for Morocco’s plan to grant the territory autonomy in July was after America endorsed Morocco’s sovereignty claim in 2020 in exchange for the recognition of Israel. This positioning breaks with the past French policy and has been appreciated by Moroccan authorities.

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It remains the hot-boned agenda of the former Spanish colony where Morocco dominates most of the area though it faces competition from the Algeria-backed Polisario Front. Such diplomatic maneuver by France shows a new trend of change in the balance of power in the region as well as may have implications in the next status determination negotiation.

Currently, Morocco is the leading trading partner with France in Africa with more than 900 French affiliates and is a strategic investment location for France. The manufacturing economic relationship between the two nations involves several sectors that by forming a strong foundation on which other sectors could be built in future.