Morocco’s Embassy in the United States released a short video on Monday, celebrating the 69th anniversary of Morocco’s independence and the longstanding partnership between the Kingdom and the US.
The video opens with the salient words of Morocco’s Ambassador to the US, Youssef Amrani, celebrating the story of “Morocco,a nation steep in rich history and vibrant culture, and the United States of America, a nation born from revolution.”
It then trots out historical footage of multiple US presidents noting that Morocco was the first country to recognize the US’s independence in 1777 under the reign of Sultan Mohammed III.
That historic decision became the opening chapter of an enduring story of friendship and partnership between the two countries.
The signing of the Moroccan-American Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1787 formalized relations between the two nations, allowing American merchant ships to sail into and through Moroccan waters safely under the protection of Morocco.
Morocco formally recognized the sovereignty of the US in the same year, one day before France. That recognition started a long-standing political and commercial partnership between the two nations, which has withstood the test of time.
Ira William Zartlan, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, highlighted the strength of Morocco-US relations, which was further bolstered during World War II.
Morocco played a key role in the Allied effort against Nazi Germany, hosting the historic Anfa conference in Casablanca in 1943. US President at the time Franklin D. Roosevelt and then UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill attended the meeting, which was instrumental in shaping the Allied strategy for the European front.
Following Morocco’s independence in 1956, Sultan Mohammed V made a historic visit to the US, laying the groundwork for a robust bilateral partnership between the two countries.
His successors, King Hassan II and King Mohammed VI, have carried this legacy forward, fostering deeper collaboration in areas such as security, trade, and culture.
Morocco’s strategic location at crossroads between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, coupled with the Kingdom’s political stability, has made it a vital ally of the US, leading to the creation of the US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue in 2012.
Bilateral ties between the two countries took their biggest step yet in 2020, when the US, under President Donald Trump, recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.
The short film also highlights the myriad cultural ties between the two countries, and the flourishing Moroccan-American cultural exchange that has made the Kingdom a staple of Hollywood movie sets.
Voyaging through a time capsule of American-Moroccan relations, the video highlights the American Legation in Tangier, the former US Embassy now-turned-museum located in the heart of Tangier’s medina. It houses countless books in its underground archives, chronicling the historic ties between the two nations, the 20 years of the only Free trade Agreement the US has with an African country, and 20 years of the joint US-Morocco African Lion military exercises Morocco hosts each year.
Finally, the video underscores the pivotal role of the Moroccan-American diaspora, the expats who embody the mutual understanding and strong cultural and diplomatic ties between the two countries building “people to people connections.”