The President of the French Senate will visit Dakhla
- Long-standing friend of Morocco
- Agreements for the prosperity of the southern provinces
- Agreements signed between Morocco and France
The official visit of the President of the French Senate, Gérard Larcher, to the city of Dakhla on 28 February will be the first of its kind in the southern provinces. According to Africa Intelligence, the event is part of the programme of French senatorial visits scheduled to coincide with the third Forum of French and Moroccan Elected Representatives, organised at the end of November 2024 by the Cercle Eugène-Delacroix Association in the Upper House in Paris.
According to the French media, at the beginning of January, three members of the France-Morocco friendship group in the Senate travelled to Dakhla to prepare for Gérard Larcher's visit. The French delegation was received by Ali Khalil, wali of the Dakhla Oued Eddahab region, and Mounir El Houari, general director of the Regional Investment Centre (CRI).
Long-standing friend of Morocco
After three years of diplomatic tensions between France and Morocco, a few months ago there was a reconciliation between Rabat and Paris, with the intention of building solid bridges of cooperation between the two countries, thanks to the explicit recognition by the French government of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. This support for Morocco's main national cause has been the most important received from Europe.
An old friend of Morocco, Gérard Larcher is also a great advocate of the Moroccan solution for the sovereignty of Western Sahara. At the end of July 2024, he welcomed the decision of French President Emmanuel Macron, who supported the Moroccan autonomy plan. Larcher considered it a ‘decisive diplomatic development, long overdue, the result of a long maturation process’, while insisting that ‘it is time to face realities and move away from sterile ambiguity’.
For Gérard Larcher, Emmanuel Macron's decision was ‘the most decisive step’ towards resolving a dispute that has lasted too long, undermining the integration of the Maghreb and penalising its prosperity. In this sense, Larcher sent a letter to the French president in March 2024, in which he advocated taking a diplomatic initiative as an ‘inescapable’ process for the future of relations between Paris and Rabat.
Gerard Larcher's position in favour of the Moroccan solution on the sovereignty of Western Sahara will be consolidated with the planned visit of the President of the French Senate to the Dakhla Oued Eddahab region. This visit is expected to open up new horizons for French cooperation and investment in the southern provinces that will serve to contribute to the new development model aimed at these areas.
Agreements for the prosperity of the southern provinces
While Emmanuel Macron insisted, during his recent official visit to the Alaouite Kingdom in October 2024, that ‘on this day in Rabat we open a new chapter in the long history between Morocco and France for the next generation’, the Royal Cabinet of Morocco considers it a ‘transition to a new era of solid relations, within the framework of a renewed exceptional partnership and a strategic roadmap for the years to come’.
With 10 billion euros of trade agreements and investments, France and Morocco are resuming their bilateral relations in an exceptional manner. The French president's speech opened the doors of the Sahara to French companies, stating that ‘our operators and companies will support the development of these regions through sustainable and socially responsible investments and initiatives that benefit local communities’.
The idyll between Morocco and France, which not only supports the Moroccan solution for the Sahara, but also backs the development and prosperity of the three Moroccan regions that make up the southern provinces, has resulted in the signing of a series of agreements that are very important for the progress of several vital sectors in the Kingdom's national economy.
Agreements signed between Morocco and France
These are the agreements signed between the two countries, following the inauguration of this new stage in their diplomatic relations:
- Agreement between the National Railways Office (ONCF) and ALSTOM on the supply of high-speed trains and their support elements.
- Joint Development between OCP and ENGIE within the framework of a partnership in the field of energy transition.
- Framework Agreement in the agricultural and forestry sectors to strengthen economic, social and environmental sustainability, the resilience of these sectors to climate change and agricultural cooperation in Africa.
- Memorandum of Understanding between the OCP Group and the French Development Agency (AFD), with 350 million euros in the field of decarbonisation.
- Extension of the development, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the second phase of the Taza wind farm (63 MW).
- Agreement between the CMA CGM Group, the world's third largest shipowner, and Tanger Med, aimed at developing a container terminal and launching the Nador West Med platform (1.2 million containers), with an investment of some 258 million euros.
- Memorandum of Understanding between the Akhannouch Government and SAFRAN for the creation of an aircraft engine maintenance and repair site, with an investment of almost 130 million euros.
- Creation of a Morocco-France investment accelerator (with 3 billion dirhams of capital) aimed at stimulating investment throughout Morocco, including the southern provinces.
- Memorandum of Understanding in the field of water for a new budget support programme aimed at strengthening integrated water resources management, mobilising 100 million euros.
- Memorandum of Understanding on the creation of a Franco-Moroccan Research Centre (CRFM) with an African focus. It will be the first of its kind in Africa, dedicated to training, research and innovation in the most advanced fields: artificial intelligence, Big Data, cybersecurity, renewable energies, hydrogen and human and social sciences.
- Assistance contract between the ONCF and the company SYSTRA/EGIS on the infrastructure projects for the high-speed line between Kenitra and Marrakech, and another contract for the supply of track devices between the ONCF and the company Vossloh Cogifer.
- Launch of ‘Morocco's Offer’ for the development of the green hydrogen sector.
- Declaration of Intent on strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of civil protection.
- Declaration of Intent on strengthening cooperation in the fight against wildfires.
- Franco-Moroccan Declaration of Intent for Cooperation in Education 2024-2026, to support training of excellence, technical education programmes, the network of French educational institutions in Morocco, the teaching of Arabic in France and the revitalisation of inter-academic partnerships.
- Declaration of Intent on cultural cooperation and in the field of Higher Education; Scientific Research and Innovation for university education; scientific cooperation and collaboration in governance.
- Declaration of Intent on the support and structuring of the ecosystem of the cultural and creative industry of video games.
