France opens up to investment in the Moroccan Sahara
The French Foreign Ministry confirms that Paris and Rabat share a unique partnership based on an "exceptional" bond
French Minister of Foreign Trade Franck Riester expressed his country’s readiness to invest alongside Rabat in the disputed Moroccan Sahara with the Polisario Front, at the beginning of a visit to Morocco.
This announcement is the latest positive sign from France, not only in the context of correcting bilateral relations but also in the direction of ending Paris’s reluctance to recognize the Moroccan Sahara as it has previously affirmed, through several senior officials, its support for Morocco’s proposal for autonomy as a realistic and viable solution to end the artificial conflict in the Moroccan Sahara.
The French minister’s statements come as his country takes practical steps to improve relations with the Kingdom after tensions over visa issues and a campaign against Morocco in European institutions led by a lobby opposed to the Kingdom’s interests.
Riester, who began a two-day visit to Morocco on Thursday, told journalists at the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Casablanca, “We must ensure that we work together; we have common interests,” adding that he wants to work “to revitalize the relationship.”
In recalling the visit of Foreign Minister Stéphane Ségornié to Rabat at the end of February, aimed at enhancing relations after a series of diplomatic crises, Riester again praised Morocco’s efforts in investment in the Sahara.
He also announced that France is “ready to support these efforts,” noting that the French Development Agency’s subsidiary company, “Proparco,” dedicated to the private sector, could contribute to financing the high-voltage line between the cities of Laayoune (south of the Moroccan Sahara) and Casablanca.
France is the largest foreign investor in Morocco, and trade between the two countries reached a record level of 14 billion euros in 2023.
In Rabat, Riester met with Minister of Industry and Trade Ryad Mezzour and the Minister Delegate in charge of Investment Mohsen Jazouli.
Yesterday, Thursday, the Deputy Spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry affirmed that Morocco and France share a “unique partnership” based on an “exceptional bond,” renewed by a political agenda, explaining during his weekly press briefing that “the first visit of the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Ségornié, will be a starting point for other visits.”
He also pointed out that Franck Riester’s visit to Morocco is part of this series of visits to revive the unique partnership between France and Morocco based on an exceptional bond between our two countries, which is renewed by a political agenda that allows us today to envision the next thirty years with an ambitious roadmap.”
He also said that “Riester’s visit to Morocco fully contributes to this logic and momentum, as he is responsible for attractiveness and foreign trade,” adding that the visit “is fully part of the roadmap established for this reason, he visits Morocco. This does not exclude the possibility of other ministerial visits in the future within the framework of this renewed strategic partnership.”
Yesterday, the strengthening of economic and trade cooperation between Morocco and France was the focus of discussions in Rabat between Minister of Industry and Trade Ryad Mezzour and Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, Attraction, Francophonie, and French Abroad, Franck Riester.
According to Moroccan sources, the two ministers discussed several files, including sharing experiences to develop joint strategies to address trade challenges.
The Moroccan minister stated that the meeting with Franck Riester is part of talks aimed at exploring business opportunities for Moroccan and French entrepreneurs and facilitating access to mutual products or those specific to both countries to European, African, and global markets.
He stressed the need to find appropriate mechanisms that would enhance the improvement of Franco-Moroccan relations, which are balanced and significant and have all the promising development potentials.
Ryad Mezzour clarified that France is Morocco’s second-largest trading partner in a balanced trade relationship, as the Kingdom has benefited since 2017 from a trade surplus.
In return, the French minister spoke about areas of cooperation between Morocco and France and the need to diversify and expand them, emphasizing the necessity of developing deep partnerships between the two countries to address common challenges such as economic transition, carbon removal, and digital transition.
According to the same sources, Riester urged to “accelerate the regionalization process of value chains and highlight them in Africa, through an ambitious common agenda by bringing together economic actors, especially in the aviation, automotive, rail transport, sustainable cities, renewable energies, and digitization sectors.”
Paris had agreed to the involvement of French companies in investing in the southern regions of the Moroccan Sahara, as two French companies, BB Paris France and Proparco, received official approval to expand their investments in the Moroccan Sahara.
The regional director of Engie North Africa, Louis Gaigérte Hubert, emphasized that financing projects in the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Eddahab regions is considered a “historic achievement,” adding in a tweet on his X account that enhancing investments by the two French financial companies (BB Paris France and Proparco) is a decisive turning point in the relations between France and Morocco and will open a new era of cooperation for the development of the Moroccan Sahara.
