Morocco Forges Global Ties as Neighbors Plan New Maghreb Bloc

Algeria, Tunisia and Libya are laying the groundwork for the creation of a Maghreb Union without Morocco, a project initiated by Algiers to replace the ailing Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) since 1994, the year the border between the kingdom and its eastern neighbor was closed. After formalizing the principle of a "tripartite Maghreb meeting" every three months on the sidelines of a gas summit in Algiers in early March, the leaders of the three countries met in Tunis on Monday. At the end of this "first consultative meeting", they agreed to "form joint working teams" to "coordinate efforts", according to a joint statement relayed by the Tunisian press.

The initiative for a new regional rapprochement "does not aspire to be a new AMU", thinks Hasni Abidi, director of the Center for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World at the French newspaper Les Échos. He will explain: "It is a new framework to respond to the concerns of the three countries which are facing the same difficulties: the migration route from the Sahel, the security vacuum in the Sahel, and significant economic issues, in particular with investments by Sonatrach [the Algerian oil company, editor’s note] in Libya."

Meanwhile, Morocco is pursuing an omnidirectional cooperation policy in the face of an increasingly isolated Algeria on the international stage, a Tunisia in great financial difficulty and a Libya plagued by chronic instability. "For Algiers and Tunis, Morocco’s priorities are elsewhere," notes Hasni Abidi. He continues: "And it’s true that Morocco has defined its foreign policy differently: by maintaining very good relations with Israel - which disqualifies it from any intra-Maghreb discussion - as well as with Spain and the United States, by significantly improving its relationship with France, by proposing to the Sahel countries an initiative for them to have access to the Atlantic." A view shared by Victor Lequillerier, economist at Bpifrance.

"Trade within the Maghreb is quite limited. [...] Morocco is not so much seeking to isolate itself from its Maghreb neighbors as to pursue a strategy of seeking market share": first and foremost in sub-Saharan Africa, "which has strong growth potential, and where Morocco is intensifying its investments in finance, phosphates, telecommunications and real estate," he analyzes. And he adds: And more generally, Morocco is aiming for increased integration with the rest of the world "through the deployment of a strategy to increase its integration into global value chains".