Joint Statement following the working visit to the Kingdom of Morocco of Minister Berendsen of Foreign Affairs
Joint statement following the working visit to the Kingdom of Morocco of H.E. Mr. Tom Berendsen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Rabat, 7-8 april 2026.
At the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Mr. Nasser Bourita, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mr. Tom Berendsen, paid a working visit to the Kingdom of Morocco on the 7th and 8th of April 2026.
This visit comes as a follow-up to the Joint Declaration signed in The Hague, in December 2025, which has infused a new momentum into the relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Kingdom of the Netherlands and has opened a new phase in the development of their bilateral partnership.
On this occasion, the two sides welcomed the excellence of Moroccan-Dutch relations, founded on longstanding ties of friendship between the two Kingdoms, mutual respect, reciprocal trust, and a shared determination to elevate their partnership to a strategic level. The talks provided an opportunity to underscore the quality of bilateral political dialogue and to reaffirm both countries’ commitment to pursuing an ambitious, balanced, and forward-looking cooperation serving the common interests of the two countries.
The two Ministers decided to sign, on this occasion, a Morocco–Netherlands Multi-Sectoral Action Plan during the course of 2026 and called for the establishment of a roadmap for bilateral cooperation for the coming period. This Action Plan will reflect the shared determination to give concrete and operational substance to the positive momentum characterizing bilateral relations and will cover the priority sectors of cooperation between the two countries, notably political dialogue, security, justice, migration, consular matters, as well as cultural, scientific, and human fields.
The talks also provided an opportunity for an in-depth exchange of views on several regional and international issues of common interest, as well as on ways to strengthen bilateral consultation on challenges related to stability, security, and development, both in the Euro-Mediterranean area and at the level of the African continent.
With regard to the question of the western Sahara, Mr. Tom Berendsen reiterated the position of the Netherlands as expressed in the Joint Declaration of December 2025, which states that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the most feasible solution in the context of Resolution 2797, and which fully supports the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General to facilitate and lead negotiations based on the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco, with a view to reaching a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable settlement.
On this occasion, Mr. Berendsen stressed that the Netherlands would act in accordance with its position, including at the diplomatic and economic levels, in compliance with international law.
The two sides reaffirmed their shared determination to continue deepening their political dialogue and multi-sectoral cooperation, with a view to elevating Moroccan-Dutch relations to the level of a strategic partnership, adequate to the historical ties uniting the two Kingdoms and the shared ambitions of the two countries.