Mexican Delegation To Visit Morocco, Keen To Consolidate Relations

Rabat – A Mexican parliamentary delegation is expected to pay a working visit to Morocco on Friday, June 10, to consolidate bilateral relations in the management of migration flows and climate change as well as address questions of shared interest.

Olga Sanchez Cordero, Board of Directors of the Mexican Senate, announced the news in her latest meeting with the Moroccan Ambassador to Mexico, Abdellatif Lebbar.

Cordero is set to meet with Naama Mayara, President of the Moroccan Chamber of Councillors, to discuss prospects of reinforcing coordination and consultation between the countries’ parliaments and public institutions.

Accompanying Cordero will be Hector Vasconcelos, the President of the Mexican Senate’s Exterior Relations Commission, and Cora Cecilia Pinedo Alonso, President of the Exterior Relations Commission for Asia, Pacific, and Africa.

Over the past two years, Morocco and Mexico have expressed shared interest in strengthening south-south cooperation at the diplomatic, economic, and cultural levels despite the Mexican recognition and support of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

The Mexican rapprochement with SADR was officialized in 1979 with the recognition of former Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda y Alvarez de la Rosa of the separatist entity as a state.

While the statement reporting Cordero’s visit does not mention Western Sahara, there is potential that the disputed region will be at the center of the upcoming meeting.

Mexican officials and the Mexico-Morocco Friendship Group have repeatedly called for better trade and diplomatic relations to best represent the 60 years of diplomatic ties connecting Rabat and Mexico City.

These relations will be celebrated by the Moroccan Embassy in Mexico during a one-week event that will provide a wide selection of artistic cultural events and economic forums from July 23 and 31.

Beyond the celebrations, the Mexico-Morocco Friendship Group has urged Mexican and Latin American governments to support the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as the “one and only” solution to the Western Sahara dispute.

The group has been vocally pro-Moroccan on numerous occasions with regard to developments in Western Sahara, such as the intervention of the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces in the El Guergarat zone to restore civil and commercial traffic between the region and Mauritania.

Currently, the Mexico-Morocco Friendship Group’s call for the official recognition of the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara remains unanswered. In Rabat, however, there is discernible hope that the international wave in support of the Moroccan stance on Western Sahara and the latest rapprochement between the two countries might influence decision-makers in the South American country.