Morocco closes its borders to people from China

An aircraft is parked on the tarmac of Rabat airport.

(Photo: AFP)

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Morocco closes its borders to all travelers from China, regardless of their nationality.

The decision was taken by the Moroccan authorities on December 31 and will be effective from Tuesday January 3.

The date of the lifting of this restriction has not been specified.

Publicity

Read more

With our correspondent in Rabat,

On December 7, Beijing abruptly ended its “zero Covid” policy, hitherto applied in the country.

It is the explosion of cases of Covid-19 contamination in China in recent weeks that motivated the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make this decision.

It should be remembered that Morocco closed its borders for a long time during the pandemic and its economy was heavily impacted by the various confinements.

To avoid being in this situation again, the kingdom prefers prevention to cure and takes the lead.

But the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to be reassuring and specifies that " 

 ".

This exceptional measure in no way taints the sincere friendship between the two peoples and the strategic partnership between the two countries and to which the Kingdom remains strongly attached.

— Morocco Diplomacy 🇲🇦 (@MarocDiplomatie) December 31, 2022

Trade between Morocco and China has continued to grow in recent years: more than 80 Chinese investment projects are under development in the kingdom.

Moreover, Morocco is the first Maghreb country to have joined the “New Silk Roads” project, which aims to improve trade links between Asia, Europe and Africa.

Read also: Covid-19 in China: Langfang facing the “white lungs” epidemic

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Morocco

• China

• Coronavirus