On a working visit in Morocco, Moscovici highlighted Morocco’s importance for Europe, vowing to preserve the country’s strategic contribution to a number of EU agendas.
Rabat – Morocco’s foreign affairs minister Nasser Bourita met yesterday with the European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, taxation and customs, Pierre Moscovici, to discuss the future of EU-Morocco relations.
During their conversation, the two officials emphasized the “essential strategic” relations between Rabat and Brussels. Morocco is a reliable ally of Europe in Africa and the Arab world, with several conventions and agreements binding the two sides.
Rabat and Brussels cooperate on a wide range of topics, mostly in agriculture, fisheries, migration, and anti-terrorism.
In recent years, the flow of irregular migrants from Africa to Europe has upgraded Morocco’s standing with many European decision makers. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a recent interview that Morocco’s stability and prosperity are of paramount importance to Europe.
Moscovici agrees.
During his meeting with Bourita, the EU official drew attention to Morocco’s importance in Europe’s security agenda. He expressed his attachment to the EU-Morocco partnership and said it is a prized relationship that needs to be nurtured with efforts from both sides.
Moscovici, who is on a two-day working visit in Morocco running from May 2-3, also met Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani on Thursday. With El Othmani, Moscovici also reiterated his faith in the EU-Morocco partnership.
According to a statement from El Othmani’s office, the two officials praised the alliance between Rabat and Brussels. Morocco and the EU, the statement elaborated, “have overcome a series of obstacles while opening new horizons for their strategic partnership in several areas of socio-economic development.”
Moscovici and El Othmani pledged to diversify the relations between the two sides to include sectors beyond security and economy, the two major pillars of the current EU-Morocco architecture.
In meeting both Moroccan representatives, Moscovici also mentioned the possibility of an EU-Morocco-Africa platform to invest in Africa. The move is part of a broader “Euro-African” project which Brussels thinks will drive economic prosperity and social stability in Africa and curb the wave of African youth migration to Europe.
