Morocco World News/ Maghreb Intelligence
Morocco World News/ Maghreb Intelligence
Rabat – The announcement went almost unnoticed in the Moroccan and Spanish media.
However, the information is worth its weight in gold at the geo-strategic level. Indeed, on the occasion of the next Ibero-American Summit, scheduled for November 16 and 17 in Cadiz, Spain, Morocco will join this community, which includes most of the American countries, along with Spain, Portugal and Andorra. The Kingdom of Morocco was an observer member to the organization since 2010, along with France.
Today the country took the leap that means, “quiet revolution in the conduct of foreign affairs of Morocco,” says a Moroccan diplomat, who speaks fluent Spanish. According to the diplomat, currently serving in a Latin American capital, “there is a real will in Madrid to move things forward.” For over six years, relations between Rabat and Madrid have usually been in good shape. The coming to power of the Popular Party and the PJD in the two countries has served as a “lubricant in the engine of their relationship,” in the words of a Spanish politician.
That said, according to some observers, there exists currently in Morocco a real awareness of the need for repositioning its international relations. Rabat no longer wants to rely solely on the Rabat-Paris axis, particularly after the election of François Holland to the Elysée. Even economically, flows between Spain and Morocco have become increasingly important over the years.
In addition, “Morocco is the only Arab country in North Africa to have an elite that speaks perfect Spanish and has more access to positions of responsibility in all the high spheres of the state,” says a former Iberian ambassador. Therefore, the presence of Abdelilah Benkirane in Cadiz to formalize the Moroccan application during the Ibero-American summit marks the beginning of a “historic moment,” notes a Spanish journalist accredited in Rabat.
But for the Kingdom of Morocco, what is happening is not only an adjustment in foreign policy. Under the leadership of the royal palace, relations with the Gulf countries are at their peak. The current tour of the Moroccan Monarch to four GCC countries (Gulf Cooperation Council) puts the country in a position of strategic partnership both with Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
According to informed sources in Rabat, relationships between those Moroccan monarchies of the Gulf are “intimate.” This also applies to the kingdom of Jordan. With its democratic experience and expertise in various fields, Morocco seems to replace an Egypt mired in the contradictions of an uncertain political transition. For the kingdom of Mohammed VI, the weight of the country is currently such that it allows it to play diplomatically on multiple fronts and lessen the weight of its relations with France.
