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Rabat – The Moroccan government Council approved on Thursday, June 11 an agreement preserving the partnership between Morocco, Great Britain, and Northern Ireland after Brexit.
The decision reflects the October 26, 2019 signing of the Association Agreement in London, seeking to preserve bilateral relations between Morocco and the UK in the post-Brexit period. Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita signed the agreement in London with the British State Minister for International Development and the Middle East Andrew Murrison.
This is a really great moment. It signals a really concrete step in the deepening and broadening of our bilateral partnership. Delighted to have been able to help negotiate this Agreement. @UKinMorocco @foreignoffice @JamesCleverly https://t.co/S6jcpLGKoR
— Thomas Reilly (@TSAReilly) June 11, 2020
Morocco and the UK have been vowing to strengthen cooperation despite the country’s decision to exit the European Union, and the Association Agreement ensures that Rabat and London will maintain their strategic relationships.
Government spokesperson Said Amzazi said on Thursday the council’s agreement intends to determine the framework for cooperation between Morocco and the UK at the end of the Brexit transition.
The agreement seeks to preserve the “trade relations as well as mutual rights and commitments, as stipulated by the 1996 Euro-Mediterranean agreement establishing an association between the kingdom of Morocco, and the European Communities and their member States,” Amzazi said.
The Moroccan government council decision also intends to uphold an agreement concluded in 2010 between Morocco and the EU to set up a dispute settlement mechanism, he added.
In February 2020, the British Ambassador to Morocco, Thomas Reilly, said trade value between Morocco and the UK currently stands at £2.3 billion. The ambassador on Thursday expressed satisfaction with the latest development in Rabat-London relations and trade, describing the June 11 decision as a “really great moment.”
The approval of the agreement, according to Reilly, “signals a really concrete step in the deepening and broadening of our bilateral.”
Morocco is committed to maintaining strong ties with the UK in a post-Brexit world.
The Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Stephanie Al Qas, said in February that the UK is looking forward to developing its bilateral relations with Morocco in several fields.
She said the Association Agreement not only guarantees the partnership between the two countries post-Brexit, but serves as the first step for unprecedented growth in bilateral cooperation.
