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Rabat – French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna announced today from Rabat the restoration of “normal consular” relations with Morocco.
“We have taken measures, with our Moroccan partners, to restore a normal consular relationship,” the foreign minister said at a joint press conference with her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita.
The press conference followed a meeting in which the two officials discussed cooperation as well as France’s visa restrictions that triggered diplomatic tension between Rabat and Paris in 2021.
Commenting on the country’s consular decision, Colonna said that the measure to restore normal ties in terms of visas has been done and effective.
France wants to maintain an “exemplary, exceptional, fraternal, and modern partnership ” with Morocco, Colonna said.
She spoke of the critical importance of “writing together, a new page in a context where France and Morocco need each other more than ever to ensure their security, support their economic development and meet the expectations of their youth and societies.”
For his part, Bourita emphasized the importance of Colonna’s visit, stressing that his meeting with the top French diplomat served to revive the cooperation between Paris and Rabat at all levels, including security.
“I am happy to receive my colleague and my friend Catherine Colonna. She knows Morocco very well… She visited the country several times before. But this is her first visit as a foreign minister,” Bourita said at the press conference.
He also recalled the “solid ties between the two countries,” emphasizing that the visit comes as part of the preparation of high-level meetings between the two countries in the three first months in January.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna and Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita discussing bilateral relations between Rabat and Paris. Photo: Morocco World News
Colonna’s visit also comes in preparation for Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Morocco early next year. Negotiations about the date of the visit are yet to be finalized.
“We also discussed mechanisms to revive cooperation, including between the two foreign ministries,” Bourita said.
