Morocco and UK hold 'strategic talks' on boosting trade and security ties

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita in London on Wednesday for the third session of the UK-Morocco Strategic Dialogue.

"[They] reaffirmed their vision of a Strategic Partnership to deepen their economic and security relations, strengthen their cultural ties, support each other's ambitious contributions to tackling climate change and help each other build back better from the Covid-19 pandemic," a joint communique from the UK Foreign Office read.

تباحثت اليوم وزيرة الخارجية البريطانية، ليز تراس، مع وزير الخارجية المغربي، ناصر بوريطة، في إطار الحوار الاستراتيجي الثالث بين البلدين، حيث اعتمد الجانبان إعلانا سياسيا مشتركا، ووقعا على اتفاقيتين يتعلقان بإنشاء الآليات الرئيسية لاتفاقية الشراكة الجديدة المغرب-المملكة المتحدة. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/bB0EzeWkTA

— UK in Morocco (@UKinMorocco) December 8, 2021

The ministers also inaugurated the UK-Morocco Association Council, "a platform from which to deepen [the] strategic partnership" which is currently worth £1.7 billion a year in bilateral trade.

The two countries would also work on cyber security, according to the communique.

"Both countries looked forward with anticipation to the opening of a new Cyber Security Centre of Excellence for Africa in Morocco, brought about by a partnership of UK and Moroccan joint venture companies and Universities," the report read.

The UK also reaffirmed its commitment to assist parties "to achieve a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to the question of Western Sahara, based on compromise, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara in the context of arrangements consistent with the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations".

Moroccan FM Nasser Bourita and I co-chaired today’s 🇬🇧🇲🇦 Strategic Dialogue. It shows the breadth of the relationship between our two countries.

An historic occasion marking 300 years since our first #trade agreement and further expanding our economic ties @Marocdiplo_EN pic.twitter.com/3l5zuI8rmX

— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) December 8, 2021

Earlier this year, a new direct shipping route between Tangier, Morocco and Poole, UK was launched to facilitate post-Brexit trade between the two countries, cutting journey times from approximately six days by road to less than three. 

A statement by the British embassy in Morocco praised the talks which it said “warmly recalled the history of their friendly and mutually beneficial relationship”. This year, Morocco and the UK celebrated the 300^th anniversary of their first commercial treaty signed in 1721. Today, the UK is home to more 34,000 Moroccans or people of Moroccan-heritage, according to estimates by the ONS in 2015.