Morocco and EU reach new trade deal including Western Sahara farming products

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Morocco and the European Union have agreed to introduce origin labelling as an amendment to their agricultural deal, ensuring that products from Western Sahara receive the same preferential tariffs as those originating from Morocco, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said on Thursday.

The European Court of Justice ruled that the trade deal was invalid in October 2024, on the grounds that it included products from the disputed Western Sahara.

Western Sahara has been at the heart of a territorial dispute between Morocco, which rules the territory, and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state there.

The new deal will be signed shortly in Brussels, Bourita told state news agency MAP.

The deal introduces technical adjustments concerning consumer information about the origin of products, he said.

Products from Western Sahara will carry the labels "Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra" and "Dakhla-Oued Eddahab," he said. These refer to the subregions Morocco uses in its administrative division in the area.

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Morocco

Western Sahara