Heba Press
As part of Morocco’s efforts to diversify its economic partnerships outside of the trade agreements that bind it with its traditional partners, the Kingdom has moved towards strengthening cooperation with Russia.
According to informed sources, Morocco and Russia are negotiating a new four-year maritime fishing agreement, starting in 2025, which covers all Moroccan Atlantic coasts, including the territorial waters of the provinces. South.
The same sources reported that these negotiations aim to renew the agreement which entered into force in 2020, before the European Court of Justice issued a decision annulling the agricultural and fishing agreements between Morocco and the European Union due to their coverage of the Sahara region. The two countries also agreed to extend the current agreement for another three months, until the end of 2024.
In this regard, the Russian site “Finmarket”, specializing in economic affairs, specifies that the agreement signed in September 2020 was temporarily extended until December 31, 2024 after an exchange of notes between the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Moroccan embassy in Moscow.
The agreement grants Russia an annual share of up to 140,000 tonnes of fish in Moroccan territorial waters, in exchange for payment of a fixed amount of $7 million per year. Morocco also receives 17.5% of the total value of fish caught, in addition to the obligation to employ at least 16 Moroccans on each Russian vessel.
This agreement is an extension of the initial agreement signed in 1992, which allows Russia to operate 10 fishing vessels within a 15 nautical mile radius of the Moroccan coast.
