Member of the British House of Lords, Daniel Hannan, called on January 27 for a full recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara and to boost commercial relations between the two kingdoms.
“The Institute for Free Trade, of which I am president, has come up with a series of ideas that would liberalise our trade. Not just scrapping tariffs but creating a digital corridor between Tangier and our ports […] and ensuring that our trade policy fully recognises what we de facto accept, namely Moroccan sovereignty” over the Sahara, stated Lord Hannan in an article published in the British news outlet “The Daily Telegraph”.
In a similar context, Lord Hannan said he was “open-mouthed” when he toured Morocco’s industrial sites during a visit to the Kingdom last week.
The British official also affirmed that the Tangier Med port “is the largest, not only in Africa, but in the Mediterranean”, specifying that a “massive car industry has grown up around it”.
Over the past 20 years, an aeronautical hub has developed in Casablanca, observed Hannan, adding that Morocco’s main cities are connected by high-speed trains.
In this regard, Hannan shed light on the Kingdom’s “strategic decision to diversify beyond the Francophone world”, indicating that the Free Trade Institute has proposed a series of ideas to liberalize trade between the two kingdoms.
It should be recalled that British MP Liam Fox had recently pleaded for the United Kingdom to express its full support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.
The MP addressed a letter to Foreign Minister David Cameron, in which he stressed the importance of “a more proactive and supportive position from the United Kingdom” on the dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, adding that this step is crucial not only for diplomatic relations, but also for peace and international cooperation.