Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, will they or won't they come to Dakhla?

While several media outlets in the north of the Kingdom speak of the visit to Dakhla by the Kushners in the conditional tense, thereby highlighting the uncertainty of this announcement, the local authorities are not beating around the bush; as of this Thursday morning, they continue to declare that they are unaware of anything regarding this visit, which, according to several media outlets, would be part of a private trip. A trip that, if it were to take place, comes a few weeks before the inauguration of the new American president Donald Trump, and could be seen as a sign of the reaffirmed support of the United States for the Moroccan nature of the Sahara, knowing that Jared Kushner played a key role in the American recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the Sahara in December 2020, under Donald Trump, who won the presidential election on November 5 and will be inaugurated next January. With Trump's return to the White House, it is not excluded that Kushner will regain his place within the Trump administration, particularly in American diplomacy.

This is not the first time that Kushner has visited Dakhla, in the Moroccan Sahara. He had already visited the Moroccan city in 2019 with his wife Ivanka Trump, as part of his women's economic empowerment programme, some colleagues recall.

But this announced visit of Kushner to Dakhla, which continues to fuel speculation and which would take place a few weeks before the official inauguration of Donald Trump, although private, could contribute to strengthening the strategic partnership between Rabat and Washington from 2025.

Furthermore, this trip by Kushner would consolidate Dakhla's key role as a strategic hub for the development and stability of the region and beyond to the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Several major projects in the fishing, renewable energy, luxury tourism, and logistics sectors will be developed in this Moroccan city.