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Marrakech – France’s Ambassador to Morocco, Philippe Lalliot, used the annual Bastille Day reception to frame the bilateral relationship as fundamentally renewed, calling it “a refounded partnership” built to confront present and future challenges.
More than 1,500 guests gathered at the Résidence de France in Rabat on Tuesday evening for the July 14 celebration. Morocco’s Education Minister, Mohamed Saad Berrada, and Digital Transition Minister, Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni, attended as government representatives, alongside senior Moroccan officials and foreign diplomats accredited to the kingdom.
In his address, Lalliot described the France-Morocco partnership as “balanced, serving our respective interests, modernized and forward-looking.” He cast it as one “refounded to face today’s major challenges and anticipate those to come.”
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The ambassador, who recently took up his post, signaled early engagement across the country. “Here in Rabat, as in Casablanca, Tangier, Marrakech or Laayoune, where I was a few days ago to inaugurate the city’s first Alliance Française, we don’t just talk about the future – we build it, day after day.”
The mention of Laayoune carried diplomatic weight. It followed President Emmanuel Macron’s July 2024 letter to King Mohammed VI in which Paris recognized that the future of the Western Sahara falls within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty. Lalliot referenced the letter directly, noting that “French and Moroccan diplomacies jointly promote the fundamental principles governing the international order and multilateral organizations.”
On the economic front, the ambassador pointed to France’s standing as “the leading foreign investor and employer in Morocco,” adding that French companies “contributed, more than a decade ago, to the rise of Moroccan industry.”
He then laid out three priorities for the partnership going forward: “delivering joint solutions to major international challenges and strengthening our security; supporting each other to gain influence in sectors that will drive our economies tomorrow; and growing the friendship and understanding between our societies, particularly between our youth, who embody the future of the Franco-Moroccan relationship.”
Lalliot also turned to the human dimension of the relationship, calling the bond between the two peoples an inherited one. “This friendship, we all receive as a legacy. It falls to us to keep it alive, to nurture it, to help it grow.” He noted that this bond finds its natural extension “in the vitality of the diasporas.”
The evening continued with performances by the Moroccan Philharmonic Orchestra and DJ Retro Cassetta.
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The reception came on the same day King Mohammed VI addressed a congratulatory message to Macron marking France’s national day. In the message, the King described the bilateral relationship as entering “a historic stage” and spoke of establishing “a new cooperation framework that is even more innovative, strategic and structuring, deployed at multidimensional levels.”
The diplomatic momentum extends beyond ceremony. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is visiting Rabat this week accompanied by a dozen ministers, including Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. It is Lecornu’s first trip to the North African country since taking office in 2025.
On Thursday, the two governments will hold the 15th session of the Morocco-France High-Level Meeting – the first since 2019. Discussions are expected to cover the economy, security, migration, and defense, with several agreements anticipated.
France remains Morocco’s top economic and financial partner. Bilateral trade reached a record €14.8 billion in 2024, more than double the 2015 figure. Morocco accounts for over 40% of French exports to Africa.
