From Third World to Middle Powers: A common future to celebrate 50 years of Philippine-Morocco relations

April 10, 2025 marks a milestone in the long-standing ties between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Morocco as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

- By ENRIQUE A. MANALO

The Philippines and Morocco formally established diplomatic relations on April 10, 1975. The Philippines opened an embassy in Rabat in 1979, which was closed a few years later. It was reopened in 1989 but was closed again in 1993. Morocco, for its part, opened an embassy in Manila for the first time in 2017, providing the impetus the Philippines needed to reopen its embassy in Rabat in 2020.

The presence of embassies in each other's capitals facilitates the enhancement of the depth and breadth of our bilateral relations, including people-to-people exchanges and the deepening of understanding of each other's cultures.

In 2024, for example, we welcomed the first Moroccan exchange student in the Philippines within the framework of an academic partnership between the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and the International University of Rabat.