Morocco-France Parliamentary Friendship Groups Underscore Role of Parliamentarians in Giving Fresh Impetus to Bilateral Relations

During a meeting of the Morocco-France Parliamentary Friendship Groups at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, Moroccan and French parliamentarians underscored the important role of the legislative institutions of the two countries in giving fresh impetus to bilateral relations.

The meeting, which took place on the occasion of the state visit to the Kingdom of Morocco by the President of the French Republic, H.E.M. Emmanuel Macron, at the kind invitation of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah assist him, examined a number of economic, political, and cultural matters of common interest.

During the meeting, the parties covered the means of enhancing the efficiency of the Parliamentary Friendship Groups, so as to turn them into a lever for the development of bilateral cooperation, notably through legislative and diplomatic missions, and interaction with the executive branches of the two countries.

In this respect, the two sides underscored the need to speed up bilateral parliamentary cooperation in light of the strong momentum the Morocco-French relations are witnessing, noting the importance of the institutional twinning agreement between the House of Representatives and the National French Assembly, which has “recently shown great effectiveness.”

The two sides also discussed ways and means of improving the mobility of citizens from both countries, so as to help expand opportunities for bilateral cooperation, particularly at the economic level.

The members of the France-Morocco Parliamentary Friendship Group, welcomed their country’s position on the question of the Moroccan Sahara and expressed their support for the Kingdom’s territorial integrity, assuring that the autonomy plan must be the basis and the sole path to resolve this artificial conflict.

In this respect, the Deputy Speaker of the French National Assembly and Vice-Chairperson of the France-Morocco Parliamentary Friendship Group, MP Naïma Moutchou, stressed that relations between Rabat and Paris are “entering a new phase in their solid strategic partnership.”

MP Naïma Moutchou also stressed the importance of promoting cooperation between the two countries in the various economic, political, cultural, and environmental fields, highlighting the active role of the parliamentarians of the two countries in achieving this objective.

For his part, the Chairperson of the Morocco-France Parliamentary Friendship Group at the House of Representatives, Rep. Omar Anane, said that the meeting was an opportunity to shed light on the depth of the historical relations and friendship bonds linking the two countries, which were further strengthened following the French position of support for the Kingdom’s sovereignty over its Sahara.

Rep. Omar Anane added that this meeting was part of the implementation of the high directives His Majesty King Mohammed VI in the speech delivered on the occasion of the opening of the ongoing legislative year, where he underlined the need to instill new dynamism into parliamentary and partisan diplomacy to defend the national cause.