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Marrakech – France inaugurated the new site of the Paul Pascon French international school in Laayoune on Wednesday, the latest in a series of steps crystallizing Paris’s institutional presence in Morocco’s southern provinces.
French Ambassador to Morocco Christophe Lecourtier presided over the ceremony alongside the wali of the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region, the president of the communal council, and the president of the regional council. Agnes Humruzian, director general of the Institut Français in Morocco, also attended alongside elected officials and cultural figures.
The school, part of the MLF Maroc network, sits on a 2-hectare site with 3,500 square meters of built space. It can accommodate up to 600 students from kindergarten through the final year, with full accreditation across all levels. Instruction covers multiple languages, including Arabic, English, and Spanish.
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The project was completed in just over a year. Lecourtier told reporters it falls under commitments President Emmanuel Macron made during his October 2024 state visit to Morocco at the invitation of King Mohammed VI.
He added that education and culture hold a central place in bilateral cooperation and that the school reflects both countries’ ability to deliver on joint projects for youth.
Christian Masset, president of MLF Monde, called the opening “a decisive step.” He pointed to the school’s laboratories, knowledge centers, sports facilities, and age-adapted classrooms.
Jean Marc Merriaux, director general of MLF Monde, noted the school joins a network of over 100 institutions worldwide, offering students exposure to intercultural exchange.
Lecourtier also announced the upcoming opening of an Alliance Française in Laayoune. Earlier in the day, he met with regional and municipal officials to discuss development in the southern provinces and the expansion of educational and cultural ties.
The inauguration is part of a broader pattern. In May 2025, France’s Development Agency (AFD) announced plans to invest €150 million in Morocco’s southern provinces.
AFD Director General Remy Rioux made the announcement from Laayoune during a visit to the region, saying the agency would bring in financing and development projects. The AFD has been authorized to operate in Western Sahara since the end of 2024.
France also expanded its consular services to the southern provinces, covering Laayoune, Dakhla, and Es-Semara.
In May 2025, a TLS Contact visa center was inaugurated in Laayoune, allowing residents to submit visa applications and complete biometric enrollment locally instead of traveling to Agadir.
Passports are sent to Casablanca, where a consular agent applies the visa sticker before returning them to Laayoune. At the time, Lecourtier described the southern provinces as “the new horizon” for the French embassy’s operations in Morocco.
On the economic front, a Morocco-France Economic Forum was held on October 9, 2025, in Dakhla, organized by CGEM and MEDEF. The event brought together more than 300 business leaders, diplomats, and institutional representatives from both countries to explore investment in renewable energy, logistics, agri-food, and infrastructure across the southern provinces.
The European country has moved to translate its July 2024 recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara into a deliberate and accelerating institutional buildup in the territory in less than two years.
