Morocco, Portugal to Create Joint Working Group to Boost Employment

Rabat – Morocco and Portugal have agreed to create a working group aimed at facilitating legal employment and safe migration flows between the two countries.

Morocco’s Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills Younes Sekkouri, and the Portuguese Secretary of State for Labor Miguel Fontes made the remarks on Wednesday in Marrakech.

The working group is part of a mobility agreement signed in January 2022 between Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita and his Portuguese counterpart Santos Silva, during a meeting in which they discussed the need to develop bilateral cooperation.

The agreement seeks to enable Moroccan workers to legally work in Portugal. Pending its ratification, the two countries pledged to accelerate cooperation and prepare for its implementation.

Sekkouri and Fontes said on the sidelines of the 5th Ministerial Meeting at Marrakech Private University (UpM) that the joint group will meet regularly until the ratification of the mobility agreement.

The group will include Moroccan and Portuguese government representatives, as well as members from Portugal’s Institute of Employment and Vocational Training and Morocco’s National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills (ANAPEC).

The group is expected to work on several projects aimed at providing companies with the manpower they need, while boosting employment opportunities for Moroccan workers in Portugal in legal and safe conditions.

During the meeting, the two officials focused on topics of common interest, including the issues related to the mobility of young people, students, and workers, stressing that the agreement signed between Lisbon and Rabat also seeks to facilitate the way for students aiming to continue their studies in Portugal.

Meanwhile, the Moroccan minister noted that they are currently in the process of implementing a convention, which is the result of a multisectoral coordination in the two countries.