The Association Agreement between Morocco and the UK, which entered into force on January 1, 2021, aims to preserve the bilateral partnerships between the two parties after the Brexit, notably in trade.
This agreement coincides this year with the three hundredth anniversary of the first trade agreement between Morocco and Britain signed in 1721. So, the two parties look to reinforce their bilateral ties in various fields.
According to a statement of the British ambassador to Morocco, Simon Martin, the two countries have a shared objective to boost trade and investment under the Association Agreement, saying that "this will continue to be our overriding priorities, in particular, working together on tackling barriers faced by our businesses in entering each other's markets and we look to find ways to encourage even more direct investment between the two countries."
Simon Martin, who was talking on Moroccan National Radio, English section, on February 5, added that "Morocco and UK's economies are complementary in so many ways which is why we think that we've got so many exciting opportunities in front of this is plenty more we can do in sectors like agriculture, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and financial services; and that just a start."
The ambassador also pointed out to the renewable energy saying that "both countries have a great deal of expertise to share," adding in this regard that the United Kingdom is hosting, this year in Glasgow, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 26) and the Moroccan expertise in this field and its experience as an organizer of COP 22 in 2016 could open the door for the UK to benefit from it.
Regarding the Sahara issue and the British investment in the Moroccan southern provinces, Simo Martin said that there are already British firms operating in the region, adding on the Sahara case that "we welcome Morocco's serious and credible efforts to move the process forward towards resolution and for our part, we will continue to do what we can to support the U. N. secretary-general in taking this forward."
The British ambassador expected to see more and more companies from both countries interested in investing in the two markets to strengthen the economic relations between Morocco and the UK.
