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Rabat – Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita hosted on Friday in Rabat France’s newly appointed ambassador to Morocco, Christoph Lecourtier.
During the meeting, Lecourtier presented copies of his credentials as the new French envoy in Morocco.
France’s ambassador arrived in Rabat this week on Monday, after his appointment as the new envoy to the North African country on December 16.
The ambassador’s arrival came just a week after the visit of France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna to Rabat in mid-December.
During her visit, the French FM announced the normalization of consular relations between Paris and Rabat after months of bilateral tensions over France’s visa restrictions on Moroccan travelers.
France had decided in September of last year to halve the number of visas granted to Moroccans, triggering a year-long friction between the two countries.
“We have taken measures, with our Moroccan partners, to restore a normal consular relationship,” the French FM said during her visit, announcing the end of the bilateral tension.
France wants to maintain an “exemplary, exceptional fraternal, and modern partnership” with Morocco, she stressed, suggesting that Paris supports the Moroccan autonomy initiative
While many in Morocco have long decried France’s reluctance to unambiguously come out in support of the Moroccan stance on the Sahara dispute, Colonna appeared to argue in an interview that it “has been clear from the beginning” that Paris’s position is favorable to the Moroccan autonomy initiative.
“As for the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco in 2007, we did not wait for the decision of such and such a country to support it,” she said. “Our position is clear and known. From the start, it has been a position clearly favorable to Morocco which we repeat everywhere.”
Colonna’s visit came amid reports of a visit to Morocco by Emmanuel Macron in early 2023, further strengthening the notion that France wants to make a fresh start with Morocco after months of tumultuous relations. Colonna
