Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, who celebrated his 60th birthday on Monday 21st August, has been seen as maintaining effective stability as well as modernizing the economy at home while pursuing assertive diplomacy abroad.
In his most recent speech on July 30, the king called for the achievement of “new milestones on the path of progress and creating projects of greater scope, worthy of the Moroccan people.”
Since his coronation after the death of his father Hassan II on July 23, 1999, King Mohammed has focused on the economy, foreign affairs, defense, and security in his North African nation.
“While his father was greatly present on the political stage, Mohammed VI’s style seems to differ from that of his father’s. According to political analyst Mohamed Chiker, he prefers to silently steer the ship while controlling the levers of power.”
The king has supervised the building of major infrastructure and business projects over the years.
These include the Tanger Med industrial port, the gigantic Noor solar power plant, and the Tangier-Casablanca high-speed rail line, alongside developing Morocco’s automotive and aerospace industries, and more recently, so-called green hydrogen projects and the “Made in Morocco” label.
Furthermore, to boost Moroccan soft power abroad, he took the initiative to partner with Spain and Portugal in a joint bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
On the international stage, Mohammed has diversified partnerships that were once the virtual monopoly of former colonial ruler France and other European countries, embracing a more prominent continental role since Morocco’s return to the African Union in 2017.
The Western Sahara has remained the king’s top foreign policy priority, repeatedly describing the former Spanish colony as “the prism through which Morocco views its international environment.”
Since 1975, a low-intensity conflict over the contested territory has pitted Rabat against Sahrawi separatists of the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.
Morocco has also secured Spain’s support for an “autonomy plan” that would place the vast mineral-rich desert region under Rabat’s sole sovereignty.
The Polisario has for decades called for a UN-supervised referendum on self-determination.
In December 2020, the United States recognised Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. Israel followed suit last month, deepening ties with Rabat and drawing a predictable backlash from Algiers.
He did not only achieve diplomatic wins, but Mohammed also addressed societal inequalities at home, which has earned him the nickname “king of the poor”.
Under his leadership, a long-awaited aid project for Morocco’s most disadvantaged families is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
In 2004, the monarch approved the adoption of a family code aimed at boosting women’s rights.
Over the past two decades, Morocco has also shown a commitment to strengthening women’s representation in all sectors, considering it a priority step towards combating discrimination, exclusion, and marginalization.
The reforms, the king said in July 2022, enshrine “equality between men and women in rights and duties and, consequently, establish the principle of parity as an objective that the state must seek to achieve.”
The king also shed light on the fact that the purpose of the reforms was to allow women to “enjoy their legitimate rights,” reaffirming that in Morocco, “it is no longer possible for women to be deprived of their rights.”