Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita says Ecuador intends to expand diplomatic and consular representation into Morocco's southern provinces. Rabat presents the move as support for Moroccan sovereignty, giving a bilateral administrative decision wider significance in the dispute over Western Sahara.
Bourita announced the plan after talks in Rabat with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Roberto Carlos Kury Pesantes and said Ecuador's ambassador was prepared to visit the region. Quito did not separately set out the location, timing or form of the expanded presence in the published account.
The ministers described a sharp improvement since October 2024 after a period of limited engagement. Bourita credited King Mohammed VI and President Daniel Noboa, while reciprocal embassies and repeated official visits supplied an institutional base for the renewed relationship.
Trade has doubled, particularly in agricultural products and fertilisers. The countries created political-consultation mechanisms and plan a joint economic and technical committee, while Morocco wants to serve as a platform for Ecuadorian access to African, European and Arab markets.
A new roadmap extends cooperation into 2027 and 2028, building on technical work, agriculture and training. The sides also plan agreements on double taxation, investment protection, air services and tourism, although Bourita's remarks and the signed documents contained differing roadmap date ranges.
Security officials will examine organised crime and transnational networks, and the governments are considering their first economic forum. They also abolished visa requirements for ordinary passport holders, a measure capable of supporting tourism and business if transport links develop.
Bourita has assembled political recognition, mobility and economic cooperation into one package. The next test is whether Ecuador formalises its southern presence and whether the committees, legal agreements and trade platform produce activity beyond the diplomatic symbolism valued by Rabat.
