The meeting, held on the occasion of the French President Emmanuel Macron's State visit to the kingdom at the invitation of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, reviewed a number of economic, political and cultural issues of common interest.

Discussions focused on ways to enhance the role of the Parliamentary Friendship Group to be a lever for the development of bilateral cooperation, notably through legislative and diplomatic missions, and interaction with the governments of both countries.

In this regard, both parties underlined the need to step up the pace of bilateral parliamentary cooperation in the wake of the strong momentum in Moroccan-French relations, noting the importance of the institutional twinning agreement between Morocco's House of Representatives and France's National Assembly, which has “recently shown great effectiveness”.

The parliamentarians also discussed ways of improving the mobility of citizens from both countries, so as to help expand opportunities for bilateral cooperation, particularly in the economic sphere.

The French members of the Parliamentary Friendship Group welcomed Paris' position on the Moroccan Sahara issue and expressed their support for Morocco's territorial integrity, stressing that the autonomy plan must be the basis and the only way to resolve this artificial conflict.

In this vein, National Assembly Vice-President Naima Moutchou emphasized that relations between Rabat and Paris are entering a new phase of reinforced strategic partnership.

In a statement to MAP, Moutchou, also Vice-President of the Morocco-France Parliamentary Friendship Group, stressed the importance of promoting cooperation between the two countries in economic, political, cultural and environmental fields, highlighting the active role of parliamentarians in achieving this goal.

For his part, Omar Anane, Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group at the Moroccan House of Representatives, said that the meeting was an opportunity to shed light on the depth of the historical relations and friendship between the two countries, which were further strengthened following the French position in support of Morocco's sovereignty over its Sahara.

Anane added that this meeting was part of the implementation of the High Guidelines of His Majesty King Mohammed VI outlined in the speech delivered on the occasion of the Parliament's opening, stressing the need to inject a new dynamism into parliamentary and partisan diplomacy to defend the national cause.