Sweden's foreign minister was to hold talks with her Moroccan counterpart in Rabat on Wednesday in a sign of eased tensions after a year-long quarrel over the Western Sahara. Margot Wallstrom, who arrived on Tuesday, was to meet civil society representatives as well as Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, the embassy said.
Relations between Rabat and Stockholm have been strained since 2015, when Sweden was considering the possibility of recognising the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic declared by the pro-independence Polisario Front. Sweden's leftwing government, which came to power in 2014, abandoned the idea in January 2016. In September 2015, Morocco blocked a grand opening of the kingdom's first Ikea store, saying it lacked a "conformity permit". Local media said the move was in retaliation for Stockholm's position on the disputed territory. Wallstrom in January announced Sweden would not recognise the Western Sahara as an independent state, but would support UN mediation on the issue.
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