RABAT, OCT 30 – King Mohammed VI and the French President, H.E. Mr. Emmanuel Macron, have laid the foundations for a “genuine overhaul of the strategic partnership” between the two countries, the French Minister of Europe and ForeignAffairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, said on Tuesday in Rabat, during the French President’s State visit to the Kingdom at the invitation of the Sovereign.
“This is the aspiration of the Declarationsigned by the twoHeads of State on Monday, to build and implement a reinforcedexceptionalpartnership in all areas, withthree major goals”, said Barrot at a press briefing followinghistalkswith the Minister of ForeignAffairs, AfricanCooperation and MoroccanExpatriates, Nasser Bourita.
Thesethree goals are political convergence in the face of major contemporary challenges, the deepening of economicpartnership, particularly in strategicsectors, and the strengthening of cooperation in the fields of human links, human capital and culture, headded.
The head of French diplomacyalsostressedthat the relationshipbetweenMorocco and France “isrooted in a shared memory and a commonheritage,” in humantieswithsome 700,000 Moroccans living in France and nearly 80,000 French nationals in Morocco, as well as in economicties, with France the leadinginvestor in the Kingdom, with over 1,000 subsidiaries of itscompaniescontributing to nearly 150,000 jobs, and Morocco the leadingAfricaninvestor in France.
In thiscontext, hestressed the need to turn “thisrichpartnership” towards the future, recalling the 22 bilateralagreementssigned on Mondayunder the chairmanship of HisMajesty the King and the French President, in addition to the twenty or sootheragreementssealed on Tuesday at the Morocco-France business meeting.
Theseagreementscover areas as varied as the integration of value chains and industrialecosystems, green energy, infrastructure, youth, innovation, migration management and Africa, “for whichMorocco has always been the naturalgateway for France and Europe”, as Barrot emphasized.
It is in Africa that “a large part of our future is at stake, and wherewe must be able to investtogether for progress,” the French Minister stressed.
