Foreign ministers of military-ruled Sahel states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger said on Monday they endorse an initiative offering them access to global trade through Morocco's Atlantic ports, Morocco's state news agency reported.

The foreign ministers expressed their countries' position during a meeting with Morocco's King Mohammed VI in Rabat, it said.

The West African nations, run by juntas that have taken power in coups in recent years, withdrew from the regional grouping ECOWAS last year and formed an alliance known as the Confederation of Sahel States (AES).

Morocco, a major investor in West Africa's financial and agricultural sectors, announced its trade access initiative in November 2023, after ECOWAS imposed trade restrictions on the three states.

The initiative is conducive to "diversifying our access to the sea," Mali's foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop told state media.

The meeting "is part of the strong and longstanding relations of the Kingdom with the three brotherly countries of the Alliance of Sahel States," Morocco's news agency said.

The visit takes place as relations between the AES and Algeria, Morocco's regional rival, deteriorate.

Algeria has cut ties with Morocco and backs the Polisario Front which seeks an independent state in Western Sahara, a territory Morocco considers its own and where it is building a port worth $1 billion.

The new AES grouping expelled French and other Western forces and turned towards Russia for military support.

In December, Morocco mediated the release of four French spies held in Burkina Faso, five months after Paris recognised Rabat’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.