Delegation to Morocco continue to strengthen ties amid backdrop of Foreign Secretary visit
A BGIPU cross-party delegation visited Morocco from the 1st to the 6th of June 2025. The group was led by Fabian Hamilton MP and included Rupa Huq MP, Charlie Dewhirst MP, Iqbal Mohamed MP, Baroness Brown and Baroness Prashar. They were accompanied by Mathilde Ollivo of the BGIPU. The visit included meetings in Rabat, Tangier and Casablanca with high-level counterparts, including the Moroccan Foreign Minister and Foreign Affairs Committee as well as religious and business leaders.
The first meeting on Tuesday 2nd June was with Rachid Talbi El Alami, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who gave the delegation an overview of the workings of the Moroccan parliamentary system which, combined with the next meeting with Mohamed Ould Errachid, the President of the House of Councillors – Morocco’s upper house – allowed the UK delegation to have a complete view of the country’s legislative system. Speaker El Alami was interested in whether or not the UK would connect to the X-Links project in which Morocco intends to generate electricity from solar farms in the Sahara Desert and sell it onto a number of European countries.
Following lunch, the delegation was able to observe oral questions in the House of Representatives before travelling across town to meet with Mrs Amina Bouayach, President of the Human Rights Council. Mrs Bouayach had visited London in March and met with some members of the UK delegation whilst she was there. She and her staff described the types of cases they dealt with each year and how they were remedied. The Council was founded in 1990 as an Advisory body but its founding law was amended in 2001 to bring it into conformity with the Paris Principles. Mrs Bouayach explained that in 2019 the Council agreed its ‘Triple P’ strategy: “for the Protection of human rights; for the Prevention of violations; and for Promotion of the culture of human rights”.
We then visited the British Embassy and met with Deputy Ambassador Jo McPhail as the Ambassador was busy with the Foreign Secretary who was also in Morocco at the same time.
The next day, Tuesday 3rd June, started with a visit to the British Council in Rabat, which is a popular institution now that so many Moroccans are learning English as their second language. We were impressed with the professionalism of the staff there and with its Director, Alexandra Balafrej-Dhorne. After we left the British Council, we were welcomed by Morocco’s Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, an articulate career diplomat who has been in office since 2017. He welcomed our questions and gave clear and intelligent answers which impressed the whole delegation. Many of us felt that this was one of the highlights of our visit.
More meetings in Parliament followed, including with the Foreign Affairs Committee, UK-Morocco Friendship Group, the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Energy, Minerals, Environment and Sustainable Development; and the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Development. We were impressed by the number of women in senior Parliamentary positions, many of whom were chairs of the committees. The UK-Morocco Friendship Group also hosted a lunch in our honour.
Wednesday saw the delegation taking the high-speed train (TGV) from Rabat to Tangier to visit ‘Tanger Med’, strategically well placed on the Straight of Gibraltar and one of the largest port complexes in the world which has a handling capacity of nine million containers as well as a large volume of vehicles and passengers, logistics, tax-free zones for businesses and industrial services. It is also a big driver of economic growth in Morocco.
After our arrival back in Rabat we hosted the Secretary-General of the Mohammedan League of Religious Scholars, Dr Ahmad Abaddi, one of the leading Islamic scholars in the world. Some members of the delegation had met him before but we were all impressed by his philosophical explanation of today’s world and how we can bring about peace where there is conflict.
On our final day in Morocco, we set off for Casablanca, the commercial capital of the country. We met with the excellent British Chamber of Commerce which has been operating for more than 100 years. They made a very good presentation at their unusual headquarters in a converted apartment in the old town and we left feeling that there is a lot of potential for increased trade and co-operation with the UK’s oldest ally.
We finished our trip to Morocco with a cultural visit to the Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in Africa, and a tour of the Souk after a brief meeting with the Deputy Regional Governor (Wali) of the province of Casablanca-Settat. Finally, the whole visit was to some extent dominated by the speech given in Rabat by UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on the morning of the day we arrived in which he announced the UK Government’s support for Morocco’s Western Sahara Autonomy plan. The change of policy by our government was greeted with huge approval and delight in every meeting we attended and has become a big driver of increased friendship and co-operation which will open the doors to further trade and economic partnership.
The delegation’s thanks go to Mathilde Ollivo and her colleagues in the British Group, IPU, who ensured that the visit was smooth and well-organised. It was a real pleasure to have been involved in it and the members of the delegation were all delighted.
Delegation pictured with the Moroccan Foreign Minister.
Delegation pictured with the Speaker of the Moroccan Parliament.
Meeting with the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Delegation with Mrs Amina Bouayach, President of the Human Rights Council.
