- Following an exchange of notes verbales between the two parties
- More than two years after signing an agreement
It is now official: Burkinabè and Moroccans no longer need visas to travel to either country. The reason ? The entry into force of an agreement, signed a little over two years ago, which abolishes visas for nationals of the two countries holding ordinary passports.
It was, in fact, at the end of October 2020, in Dakhla, Morocco, the two countries agreed to abolish visas for ordinary passports in favor of their respective nationals. And since November 2020, this agreement has been subject to provisional application, in the absence of an official act marking its entry into force. It’s done, as evidenced by a note verbale sent in mid-February to the Burkinabè Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Kingdom of Morocco via its embassy in Burkina Faso. In this note, the Cherifian Kingdom informs the Burkinabe party that the Dakhla Agreement has entered into force definitively. And this, following an exchange of notes between the two parties.
Already in February 2021, Burkinabè diplomacy informed Morocco that Burkina Faso, in accordance with its national legislation, had completed the internal formalities required for the definitive entry into force of the Agreement. Earlier, in November 2020, the Department of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso transmitted to Morocco the specimens of the ordinary Burkinabè passport.
It is therefore the culmination of a procedure whose beneficiaries are the nationals of the two countries, Burkina Faso and the Kingdom of Morocco.
Beranger Kabre
Box 1: Challenges to the entry into force of the Dakhla Agreement
Beyond facilitating the movement of people between the two countries and strengthening the Ouagadougou-Rabat diplomatic axis, the entry into force of this agreement could promote economic integration on both sides between these two countries. Commercial Partners. Indeed, Morocco is among the top 15 African destinations for exports from Burkina. The Cherifian Kingdom ranks 13th among African destinations in the Land of Upright Men by absorbing, in 2021, 0.3% in value of Burkina’s exports, i.e. 686.2 million CFA francs, according to the 2022 report on the trade balance and foreign trade of the Ministry of Industrial Development, Trade, Crafts and Small and Medium Enterprises of Burkina. Moreover, still according to the same report, Morocco occupies the 6th place of African sources of imports from Burkina. In 2021, exports from the Kingdom to Burkina amounted to around CFAF 32 billion, 4.7% in value of imports from the Country of Upright Men.
