Mohamed VI receives Macron in Rabat to seal diplomatic reconciliation with economic agreements

Leaning on a cane, King Mohamed VI came to receive the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at the foot of the steps of the plane in which he traveled to Rabat this Monday afternoon. The gesture of the monarch of the Alawite dynasty, which had not been officially confirmed in the visit program, reflects the distinguished welcome with high honors that Morocco wanted to extend to the French head of state. The turn taken by France in favor of the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara as “the only basis for the solution to the conflict”, as Macron proclaimed three months ago in a letter to Mohamed VI, has put an end to three years of diplomatic crisis between both countries. The state visit comes to seal a diplomatic reconciliation between both countries that is planned to be staged with important bilateral economic agreements.

Mohamed VI went to the tarmac at Rabat airport escorted by his son, Crown Prince Hasan; his brother, Mulay Rachid, second in line to the throne, and by his sisters Lala Khadija and Lala Meriem, who were in charge of welcoming Brigitte Macron, wife of the French president, given the status of divorced from the sovereign. The king leaned on an orthopedic cane, as he did at an official event in 2012. Sources from the royal palace cited by the digital portal Hespress They attributed it to the fact that Mohamed Vi had suffered “a muscle contracture on his right side due to sciatica.” In images distributed last Wednesday, after the inauguration of the new ministers of the Moroccan Government, the monarch was already apparently showing these symptoms.

After making the tour, amidst cheers from the crowd through the streets of Rabat in an open vehicle along with the king, the French head of state was later welcomed with 21 cannon salutes in the Mechuar square of the royal palace, place of tribute to the kings of the Alawite dynasty, where the official reception ceremony took place. Macron immediately held a private interview with Mohamed VI, before both leaders attended the signing ceremony of a first round of bilateral agreements. France, a former colonial power, is the first investor country in the Moroccan economy and the second trading partner, only behind Spain (which also exercised control over a Protectorate in part of the North African country), after having doubled the volume of exchanges in the last decade.

French companies in North Africa

Morocco and France plan to seal bilateral agreements, focused above all on the creation of French-capital companies in Moroccan territory. It seems to be in mutual interest. The geopolitical transformations experienced on the international scene after the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have highlighted Morocco’s proximity to Europe in the relocation of value chains.

France’s economy has been one of the first to take advantage of the paradigm shift. In 2025, the Maghreb country is preparing to surpass the mark of one million cars produced per year, almost all of them coming from Renault and Stellantis factories (which includes Citroën and Peugeot), under total or partial French control. The Dacia Sandero utility vehicle, assembled at the Renault group plants in Tangier and Casablanca, has become one of the best-selling cars in Europe. The Moroccan automobile industry, which emerged in the last two decades, accounts for 22% of the gross domestic product, according to the newspaper L’Economiste.

Other Moroccan media, such as the weekly Tel Quel,The investments by Airbus in the aeronautical construction sector in Casablanca or the projects by the train manufacturer Alstom to launch its own factory in Fez stand out. For European companies, the Maghreb country has also become a nearby platform with ramifications in African markets, where Moroccan banks, insurance companies and telephone companies have expanded their presence.

Macron has landed in the capital of Morocco invested with the grandeurfrom an entourage of more than 120 personalities. He is supported not only by high-ranking officials and big businessmen, but also by artists and intellectuals, some of them of Moroccan origin, such as the Goncourt Prize-winning writers Leila Slimani and Tahar Ben Jelloun. The latter has defined the visit of the French president as “a highly symbolic political gesture, through which France decides to accompany Morocco in the country’s major modernization projects.” The Minister of Culture, the conservative Rachida Dati, of Moroccan parents, is among the nine members of the Government who have traveled with Macron to Rabat to sign bilateral agreements.

The president is scheduled to give a speech this Tuesday before the Moroccan Parliament, where he is expected to reaffirm France’s turn in favor of the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, whose future, as he anticipated on July 30, he believes must register “within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.” The Moroccan Association for Human Rights has asked Macron to present “official excuses on behalf of France for the abuses committed” in his speech before the legislative branch. [contra la población civil] during the colonial period”, before the independence of Morocco in 1956.