Greater than 780,000 individuals from Morocco stay in France, and visa restrictions have made it tough for kin to go to.

French Overseas Minister Catherine Colonna has mentioned Paris has restored regular consular relations with Morocco after a year-long controversy linked to France’s choice to chop the variety of visas for Moroccans visiting France. .

Friday’s announcement comes two days after France and Morocco met within the semi-finals of the Soccer World Cup in Qatar.

France gained the long-awaited match, prompting a lot evaluation of Morocco’s relationship with its former colonial rulers, in addition to the connection between twin nationals of the 2 international locations. Morocco’s spectacular qualification to the World Cup semi-finals has made the nation the primary Arab and African nation to succeed in this far in a world soccer event.

“Our goal is to enhance people-to-people exchanges between France and Morocco and to strengthen the deep interrelationships between the 2 societies that make our relationship so particular,” Colonna mentioned. He spoke at a press convention along with his Moroccan counterpart throughout a go to to Rabat.

Final 12 months, France, beneath strain to curb unlawful immigration, introduced it could drastically scale back the variety of visas granted to residents of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

In line with the French Institute of Statistics and Financial system, there are greater than 780,000 Moroccans in France, and visa disputes have made it tough for kin in Morocco to go to them.

Morocco’s Overseas Minister Nasser Brita mentioned France was “transferring in the correct path” to normalize relations amid rising tensions over visa points.

Brita mentioned France made a unilateral choice to finish visa restrictions after saying it was additionally a unilateral choice to introduce them.

“After all there was a public response, and there was a response from these affected by this choice. I feel everyone seems to be conscious of this,” he mentioned.

“At the moment, the choice to revive regular consular relations is a unilateral choice that Morocco respects and won’t formally touch upon,” he added.

The 2 ministers emphasised that the 2 international locations are necessary companions within the fields of financial system, training and safety, and shared the identical views on many worldwide points in Africa and the Center East.

It was not instantly clear whether or not France received something in return from Morocco.