On October 3, 2025, Morocco and the European Union signed a major amendment to their agricultural agreement, officially integrating products from the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Eddahab regions into the EU’s trade preferences. The agreement introduces origin labeling to ensure greater transparency and secures market access for Saharan exports, reinforcing a strategic partnership with a trade volume exceeding €60 billion annually.
On the same day, Morocco’s ambassador to the EU, Ahmed Réda Chami, and a representative from the European External Action Service signed the amendment to the Morocco-EU association agreement on agricultural trade. After months of negotiations, the deal guarantees that agricultural products from Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Eddahab will enter the European market under the same conditions as those from other Moroccan regions. The new origin labeling system ensures traceability and transparency, formally including Saharan products in European trade preferences. In 2024, Morocco-EU trade reached a record €60.6 billion, up 7% from 2023.
“This is not a political agreement, but a sectoral, commercial, and operational one. Nevertheless, it sends strong and clear signals,” said Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s Foreign Minister.
This agricultural agreement, concluded between Morocco and Belgium, aims to remove long-standing uncertainties over the trade of products from the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Eddahab regions in Western Sahara. Signed in Belgium as an exchange of letters, it modifies Protocols No. 1 and No. 4 of the 1996 association agreement, officially extending EU trade preferences to products under Moroccan customs control regardless of their region of origin.
According to Moroccan sources, the arrangement responds to the European Court of Justice ruling in October 2024, which had suspended the application of the Morocco-EU association agreement concerning agricultural trade with Western Sahara products. Agricultural exports from Dakhla, Laâyoune, or Boujdour will continue to benefit from the same tariff conditions as those from Agadir or Casablanca, provided they fall under Moroccan authority.
Morocco remains a strategic partner for the EU, with a trade volume exceeding €60 billion annually, covering industrial, agricultural, and technological sectors—a partnership that continues to strengthen amid shifting regional geopolitical balances, emphasized Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccan Expatriates.
