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Rabat – Morocco’s foreign policy has attracted interest on numerous occasions in recent years, with observers pointing out the country’s growing assertiveness on the world stage and key partners such the US, Spain, and the UK all lately highlighting the depth and significance of their cooperation with Rabat.
On Monday, April 24, The Diplomat magazine awarded Morocco’s ambassador to the UK and Northern Ireland, Hakim Hajoui, the “Diplomat of the Year 2023 from the MENA region” award.
The magazine’s awards are prizes granted annually to Heads of Missions and Diplomats following the vote of the diplomatic community accredited to the United Kingdom.
The Diplomat of the Year award ceremony
Hajoui, who has been the ambassador to the UK and Northern Ireland since 2020, stressed that The Diplomat’s recognition comes to celebrate the “forward-looking vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI” for Morocco.
Flourishing Morocco-UK cooperation
The prize comes at a time when Morocco has embarked on a journey to strengthen its global position through hard-won diplomatic breakthroughs under King Mohammed VI’s leadership.
The UK is part of a growing list of countries with whom Morocco has in recent years signed numerous agreements to deepen diplomatic and bilateral trade.
During a phone conversation in October of last year, King Mohammed VI and King Charles III highlighted their shared desire to strengthen the long-standing diplomatic ties between London and Rabat.
The phone call served as an opportunity to underline the “strong personal ties between the two sovereigns and the esteem they have for each other, thanks to the deep and long-standing relations between the two Royal Families,” the Moroccan royal cabinet said in a statement.
In addition, UK-Morocco cooperation has bloomed amid London’s approach to prioritize securing long-standing ties with Rabat following its exit from the UK, Brexit.
Read also: British Ambassador: Brexit Is Good for UK-Morocco Special Friendship
Following Brexit, Morocco, and the UK signed an Association Agreement in October 2019, pledging to further their multisectoral cooperation and partnerships.
The association agreement, which entered into force, entered into force in January 2021. Post-Brexit, cooperation in different sectors, including trade has been blooming.
The Association agreement entered into force in January 2021, and a factsheet from the UK government recently stressed that total trade in goods and services between the two countries increased by 53.3% or £1.0 billion by the end of 2022.
In addition to trade, the two countries also cooperate in other fields, including security.
The UK has been among the growing list of countries to have described Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as a credible and serious basis to end the dispute over Western Sahara.
Morocco’s evolving strategic depth
On April 18, at a roundtable between Moroccan officials and British MPs in London at the British parliament, several UK parliamentarians welcomed the Moroccan autonomy initiative, stressing King Mohammed VI’s vision for the development of Morocco’s southern provinces.
As with the UK post-Brexit, Morocco has in recent years taken notable steps to diversify its network of partnerships both in Africa, the Arab world and on the global stage. Many observers have argued that this has widened the country’s diplomatic outreach, which in turn led to more assertiveness and more breakthroughs on essential questions such as the Western Sahara dispute.
In a speech in November of last year on the occasion of the 47th commemoration of the Green March, King Mohammed VI emphasized Morocco’s determination to further strengthen its presence on the continental and global diplomatic stages.
He especially highlighted Rabat’s pledge to cement its growing pan-African leadership, emphasizing: “To continue to be faithful to the spirit of the Green March and to its everlasting oath, we need to remain mobilized and vigilant in order to defend our nation’s unity, achieve greater progress and strengthen Morocco’s bonds with its African roots.”
