Rabat – Speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives, Rachid Talbi El Alami, led a parliamentary delegation to Finland from September 10 to 13, where he held a series of meetings with senior Finnish officials.
Talks focused on strengthening Moroccan-Finnish cooperation, particularly in the areas of parliamentary relations, trade, energy, migration, agriculture, and food security. Both sides spoke of the importance of working together on shared challenges such as climate change and the transition to renewable energy.
During the visit, Talbi El Alami and his delegation met with the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, Jussi Kristiansson Ala-Aho, Deputy Speaker Tarja Filatov, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah.
They also met with the Chair of the Grand Committee, Sari-Sofia Sirén, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Johannes Koskinen, and members of the Morocco-Finland parliamentary friendship group.
The Finnish officials commended Morocco’s deep reforms in various sectors under the leadership of King Mohammed VI. They also underlined Morocco’s strategic role as a reliable partner for the European Union and a key player in regional peace and stability.
Meanwhile, Talbi El Alami expressed Morocco’s appreciation for Finland’s support of the country’s territorial integrity and the Moroccan autonomy initiative as a realistic basis for resolving the Western Sahara issue.
He also presented Morocco’s major reforms in health, social protection, agriculture, renewable energy, and the ongoing reform of the Family Code.
The Moroccan delegation included parliamentary group leaders Mohamed Choqui (National Rally of Independents) and Rachid Hamouni (Party of Progress and Socialism), along with Morocco’s ambassador to Finland and Estonia, Mohamed Achkalou.
This visit came at the invitation of Finnish Parliament Speaker Jussi Kristiansson Ala-Aho, who had previously visited Morocco in May 2024.
Finland officially expressed its support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara in August last year, following a meeting between Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen in Helsinki.
In a joint readout of that meeting, Finland described the Moroccan plan as a “serious and credible contribution to the UN-led political process” and a “good basis for a solution agreed upon between the parties.”
Helsinki had maintained a neutral stance on the Sahara prior to the Valtonen-Bourita meeting, supporting the UN-led process without explicitly endorsing Morocco’s autonomy proposal. The August 2024 statement marked a significant shift, positioning Finland as the first Nordic country to formally back Morocco’s plan for its southern provinces.
