France, Morocco hold meeting in Paris on migration procedures improvement

Senior officials from the Moroccan and French Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, and the co-chairs of the Morocco-France Permanent Joint Migration Group (GMMP) held an unprecedented meeting at the Moroccan embassy in Paris on means of improving migration procedures.

The meeting, held at the invitation of Morocco, mainly discussed cooperation on readmission and prevention of departures, as well as points for improvement to facilitate cooperation on the issue of consular laissez-passer (LPC), which are required to enforce Obligations to Leave French Territory (OQTF), a joint statement released following the meeting said.

The Paris meeting followed on from the one held on October 3 in Marrakech by the GMMP, the statement said.

As the meeting was held on the sidelines of the biannual conference of Moroccan Consuls General, the French side took part in an exchange with the 17 Moroccan Consuls General deployed in France (Paris, Orly, Pontoise, Villemomble, Mantes la Jolie, Colombes, Lille, Lyon, Montpellier, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rennes, Orléans, Dijon, Strasbourg and Bastia).

The 2-hour session enabled direct feedback and high-quality exchanges between the Moroccan diplomats and the representatives of the French side.

This exchange between the two parties is designed to strengthen the whole system of migration cooperation between the Kingdom of Morocco and France, in which consular action is central.

This innovative procedure, the statement notes, is intended to respond to the desire expressed by the two Heads of State, King Mohammed VI and President Emmanuel Macron, during the latter’s state visit to Rabat October 28-30.

As set out in the Joint Declaration on the Reinforced Exceptional Partnership signed by the two Heads of State, the aim is to “build a comprehensive agenda on migration, including facilitating legal mobility, fighting irregular immigration and promoting cooperation in readmission and prevention of departures, as well as strengthening coordination between the countries of origin, transit and destination, based on the shared responsibility principle.”

This meeting, the joint statement adds, also follows on from the exchanges between Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, and his French peer, Bruno Retailleau, who held a working session on the sidelines of the French President’s visit to Rabat on October 29.

At the end of this meeting, both parties expressed their satisfaction with the exemplary migration cooperation between Morocco and France, as demonstrated by the improvement in readmission indicators, and praised the role of both Prefects and Consuls General, who are at the heart of the strategy and vision put in place under the GMMP.

The Moroccan side praised France’s efforts to bolster legal mobility, particularly for students. It also noted with satisfaction the positive trend in visa granting rates. The exchanges also focused on protecting the rights of the Moroccan diaspora living in France, a pillar of human, cultural and economic relations between the two countries.

For its part, the French side praised Morocco’s efforts in managing migratory flows, and noted that this cooperation was improving. The French side also thanked Morocco for hosting this meeting, which enabled the deployment of the migration cooperation strategy desired by France and Morocco. It will be evaluated at the next GMMP meeting, to be held in France in the first quarter of 2025, the statement said.

According to the joint statement, the French side comprised Simon Fetet, Director of Immigration at the Ministry of the Interior and GMMP co-chairman, Mathilde Grammont, Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister of the Interior, Frédéric Rimoux, Deputy Ambassador for Migration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Delphine Montuelle, Head of the Removal Unit at the Directorate of Immigration.

The Moroccan side comprised Khalid Zerouali, Director of Migration and Border Surveillance at the Ministry of the Interior and GMMP co-chairman, Bouchta Fahli, Director of General Intelligence at the General Directorate for National Security, Fouad Kadmiri, Director of Consular and Social Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, and Samira Sitaïl, Morocco’s Ambassador to France.