On the 20th of October, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, met his Belgian counterpart Hadja Lahbib, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade, and Federal Cultural Institutions, to discuss several topics in different domains, to strengthen relations between the two monarchies.
The exchanges were spread over several domains to build a strategic partnership with diversified content involving several actors, whether economic, parliamentary, security, or judicial.
The following year will bring the rebirth of the Cooperation Commission after ten years of not meeting.
The Commission will contain 13 agreements that will be signed and finalized. They will be more inclined towards the economic sector to strengthen the commercial exchanges, knowing that Belgium is the 12th economic partner and the 10th investor in Morocco, as well as the 7th in Moroccan tourist receipts, as it is the 7th in the transfers coming from abroad since it is the 7th destination of the Moroccans expatriates. On the other hand, Morocco is only the 42nd supplier of Belgium.
The human dimension was on the agenda of the two ministers’ discussions since the Moroccan expatriates in Belgium form the second-largest foreign community in the country, which is an asset it is necessary to exploit. In this regard, a working group on migration will hold its first meeting in early December, as a judicial cooperation group will meet the same month.
Bourita insisted on the role that Belgium plays in the rapprochement of the EU and Morocco, as by strengthening the position of this international and regional jointness, on distinct sectors, such as climate change, counter-terrorism, deradicalization, the two countries can carry initiatives in regional and international organizations based on their national experiences and bilateral cooperation.
Finally, the two counterparts will want to create an African dimension in political, economic, and commercial fields, as well as in stability and security.
Bourita will visit his Belgian counterpart at the beginning of the following year to prepare the Commission.
The Belgian minister expressed the position of her state vis-à-vis the Moroccan Sahara, considering that the autonomy plan presented in 2007 by Morocco was a good basis for a solution accepted by the parties regarding the Sahara issue. She welcomed the role of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Staffan de Mistura.
With this position, Belgium joins the list of European countries supporting the autonomy plan, including Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, Romania, Portugal, and Serbia.