Morocco-U.S.A. strategic partnership reviewed this week in Washington
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita started Monday a working visit to Washington, as part of the regular consultations between the two countries that aim to consolidate their strategic partnership that has grown significantly in recent years in all areas and exchanging views on various regional and international issues.
During this visit, Bourita will have a series of talks at the White House and the State Department, including with the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken.
The visit will be an opportunity to consolidate this strong and longstanding strategic partnership between the two countries in a variety of areas and to discuss international and regional issues of mutual interest, particularly in the Middle East and Africa.
This visit confirms the significant momentum Morocco-US ties witnessed in recent years and the dynamic of regular exchanges between Morocco and the United States, which has intensified considerably over the past two years, with the visit to the Kingdom of many senior American officials.
At the level of political dialogue, last year was notably marked by the visit of Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Rabat in March 2022, during which he said the US supports “King Mohammed VI’s ambitious reform agenda to strengthen Moroccan institutions.”
Also in March 2022, Blinken’s assistant, Wendy Sherman, visited the Kingdom, a visit that was followed in May by that of the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, and more recently, in January, by that of Michèle Sisson, Assistant Under-Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.
In addition, the CEO of the Millenium Challenge Corporation paid two visits to Morocco this year and in July 2022, headed a major US economic delegation.
In December 2022, the MENA Coordinator at the White House National Security Council, Brett McGurk, also made a trip to Rabat for high-level consultations.
The security consultations were part of the same dynamic of significant reinforcement, especially through the very first visit to Morocco by a Chief of Staff of the American Armies, General Mark Milley, last February.
Visits in 2022 by the Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, and the Head of the FBI, Christopher Wray, served to diversify and deepen the ever-growing multi-dimensional security partnership between the two countries.
Exchanges with the US Congress have also increased, especially during the last three months, with the visit of the Abraham Accords Caucus to the US Senate in January, a delegation of influential senators led by the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in February, and the visit of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to the US House of Representatives this March.
The Hispanic Caucus delegation visited Dakhla, marking the first visit of US MPs to Morocco’s Southern Provinces since the United States recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara in December 2020.
The strengthening of the Moroccan-American partnership was also marked by the organization in Morocco of important joint events, including the ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Combat Daesh, in May 2022, and in July 2022. In addition to the US-Africa Business Summit, which served as a prelude to the US-Africa Government Summit hosted by President Biden in December 2022.
