In a sign of warming ties, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita traveled to Baghdad early this year to reopen his country’s embassy. Amid the deteriorating security situation after the 2003 US-led invasion, Morocco had closed the diplomatic mission in 2005. Two embassy employees were kidnapped by Al-Qaeda in Iraq that year, and their fates remain unknown.

With improved security conditions, the two countries have moved to restore relations. Yet some underlying contentions remain. For instance, Baghdad has maintained its neutrality over Western Sahara, a disputed territory that Morocco and the Polisario Front have clashed over since 1975.

Newly restored ties

In connection with the reopening of the Moroccan embassy on Jan. 28, Bourita met with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, signing a memorandum of understanding to boost bilateral ties. Hussein asserted that Iraq was looking to “facilitate the entrance of Iraqis and businessmen [to Morocco], establish economic and trade ties, and exchange consultations on policy affairs between the...