Brexit to Boost UK-Morocco Ties, Says British Ambassador

The British Ambassador to Rabat addressed the issue in detail in an interview with the daily Al Akhbar. According to Thomas Reilly, his country’s exit from the EU will help strengthen Moroccan-British relations. First, "Great Britain will be obliged to diversify and strengthen its bilateral, especially economic and commercial, relations to compensate for its exit from the European Union," he affirms. And he adds that the other reason is that his country is betting a lot on Africa, which is full of enormous potential. London, which until now has restricted its relations with its former African colonies of the Commonwealth, intends above all to use Morocco as a gateway to Francophone Africa.

In this dynamic and to capture this flow of interest for Morocco, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nasser Bourita, recently traveled to London and signed several trade cooperation agreements between the two countries, recalls the same source. According to Thomas Reilly, after Brexit, Britain will retain all the agreements that linked Morocco to the EU. According to the diplomat, these agreements will be "maintained and transformed into bilateral agreements, some of which will be in the form of free trade".

In passing, the British diplomat expressed his willingness to work with his teams to attract investors from his country to the potential riches of the kingdom, including oil and gas exploration, renewable energies, maritime transport, ports, finance, insurance.

Returning to the political and diplomatic relations between London and Rabat, the ambassador assures that they "are both ancient and constantly improving". The proof is that on the issue of Morocco’s territorial integrity, the diplomat points out that his country’s position has not changed. Great Britain indeed "supports the UN’s efforts to reach a just, realistic, pragmatic and lasting political solution, accepted by all parties," said Thomas Reilly.