France's president is visiting Morocco as Western Sahara change brings hopes of 'new honeymoon'

French President Emmanuel Macron is arriving successful Morocco, wherever he is scheduled to meet pinch nan North African kingdom’s leaders and talk partnerships regarding trade, ambiance alteration and managing immigration

RABAT, Morocco -- RABAT, Morocco (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron arrives Monday successful Morocco, wherever he is expected to meet pinch nan North African kingdom’s leaders and talk partnerships regarding trade, ambiance alteration and immigration.

During nan three-day sojourn to Rabat, Macron is scheduled to meet pinch King Mohammed VI and Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch and reside Morocco’s Parliament.

The travel comes months aft Macron changed France’s longstanding nationalist position and backed Morocco’s autonomy scheme for nan disputed Western Sahara. The move endeared nan state to Morocco and alienated it from Algeria, which hosts exile camps governed by nan pro-independence Polisario Front and has agelong pushed for a U.N.-organized referendum to lick nan conflict.

In nan days starring up to nan visit, Moroccan publications lauded nan “warm reunion” and a “new honeymoon” betwixt nan 2 countries while French flags were hung passim Rabat.

France and Morocco person historically collaborated connected issues ranging from counterterrorism to Western Sahara. Morocco is nan apical destination for French finance successful Africa and France is Morocco’s apical waste and acquisition partner. Morocco imports French cereals, weapons and renewable power infrastructure for illustration turbines. France imports equipment from Morocco including tomatoes, cars and airplane parts.

Moroccans are among nan largest foreign-born communities successful France, wherever North African immigrants are a cardinal governmental constituency and a focal constituent of debates astir nan roles of Islam and migration successful French society.

In caller months, France’s caller Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has pushed for nan state to return a hard-line attack toward migration and activity deals pinch countries for illustration Morocco to amended forestall would-be migrants from crossing into Europe.

On Macron’s past sojourn to Morocco, he and King Mohammed VI inaugurated Al Boraq, Africa’s first high-speed obstruction line, made imaginable by French financing and trains manufactured by nan French patient Alstrom.

Despite adjacent ties, relations person astatine times been vulnerable betwixt France and Morocco, which was a French protectorate from 1912 to 1956. In 2021, Morocco suspended consular relations aft France momentarily reduced nan number of visas offered to Moroccans successful protestation of its refusal to supply documents needed to deport group who migrated to France without authorization.

Relations betwixt nan 2 countries soured further that year, erstwhile a 2021 study revealed Morocco’s information services had utilized Israeli spyware to infiltrate nan devices of activists and politicians, including Macron. Morocco denied and sued complete nan allegations.