Morocco-UK Trade Agreement Takes Effect, Preserving Post-Brexit Relations

The governments of Morocco and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland had welcomed the provisional entry into force of this agreement signed in London on October 26, 2019, and which provided for entry into force 24 hours after the official exit of Great Britain from the European Union. This agreement restores all the effects that the two countries accorded each other, mutually and within the framework of the Morocco-EU Association Agreement, and thus guarantees the preservation of trade between the two countries, even beyond December 31, 2020.

Thus, the Agreement will be a "guarantee to Moroccan and British companies undertaking economic and commercial relations in all sectors of cooperation". It will ensure the mutual promotion and protection of investments and will be a fundamental pillar in the strengthening and development of relations between the two countries, in commercial and investment terms.

Furthermore, the Europeans and the United Kingdom concluded on Thursday, following exhausting negotiations and on the eve of Christmas, a remarkable agreement related to their future trade relations, aimed at avoiding the devastating shock of a "no deal" for their end-of-year economies. Boris Johnson had promised that his country would remain "culturally, emotionally, historically, strategically and geographically attached to Europe".

For the record, the volume of trade reached a value of £2.5 billion in 2018, making Morocco the 7th largest export market for the United Kingdom. In addition, the new agreement provides for the creation of an association council and monitoring committees dedicated to trade, agriculture and customs, which will be responsible for the specific monitoring of each sector with several advantages for the signatory parties to the agreement.