By Oyintari Ben
Following a year-long dispute over France’s decision to reduce the number of visas issued to Moroccans travelling to France, France foreign minister Catherine Colonna declared that Paris has resumed normal consular ties with Morocco.
The announcement on Friday comes two days after France and Morocco’s World Cup semi-final match in Qatar.
The much awaited game, which saw considerable discussion of Morocco’s ties to its former colonial masters and the connections between dual citizens of the two nations, ended in France’s victory.
Morocco became the first Arab and first African nation to advance this far in the international football event thanks to its astounding qualification for the World Cup semi-final.
During a press conference with her Moroccan counterpart while on a visit to the capital Rabat, Colonna stated, “Our purpose is to promote the human exchanges between France and Morocco and enhance the profound interlinks between our two societies which makes our relations so distinctive.”
France announced last year that it would significantly reduce the number of visas granted to citizens of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia as a result of the North African nations’ refusal to repatriate their citizens who were living illegally in France. France was under pressure from the public to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants entering the country.
A conflict over visas has made it impossible for their relatives in Morocco to visit the more than 780,000 people of Moroccan descent who live in France, according to the French Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.
Following the difficulties brought on by the visa dispute, Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s foreign minister, said the French initiative to normalize relations “goes in the right direction.”
In response to what he claimed was also a unilateral decision to impose the limits, Bourita claimed that France had unilaterally decided to abolish visa restrictions.
“There were, of course, responses from the general public as well as those who were impacted by this choice. Everyone is aware of this, I believe, he said.
The decision to resume regular consular relations was made unilaterally once more today, which Morocco respects and would not formally comment on.
Both ministers emphasized that the two nations were significant economic, educational, and security partners and that they held similar views on a wide range of global issues affecting Africa and the Middle East.
