France announces it will invest 150 million euros in Western Sahara.

The French Development Agency (AFD) will invest 150 million euros in Western Sahara, its director general, Rémy Rioux, announced during a visit to the Sahrawi territory.

"From now on, the AFD group will invest in the southern regions and provide investment and financing there," Rioux explained in a statement cited by the Moroccan news agency MAP, during his visit this Saturday to El Aaiún, capital of Western Sahara.

According to the same source, Rioux visited several projects and infrastructure in the area and expressed AFD's commitment to "providing complementary expertise and financing."

The visit by the AFD director general comes at a time when relations between Morocco and France are at their best following the diplomatic shift that Paris endorsed Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony last July.

The good rapport between Rabat and Paris has resulted in the signing of several agreements in various areas in recent months, as well as numerous visits by French ministers and officials to the Maghreb and Sahrawi territories.

France has for years maintained a position close to Rabat's on the future of this territory, but last July, a complete alignment with Morocco was achieved, when President Emmanuel Macron insisted that Moroccan sovereignty was the only expectation.

In recent years, in addition to France, other countries such as the United States, Spain, and Belgium, among others, have supported the autonomy plan presented by the Maghreb country in 2007 as a solution to the dispute over Western Sahara, which the UN considers a "non-self-governing territory."