Royal Gendarmerie units did more than keep order at Marrakech’s international air, space and defence exhibition, they helped shape how nearly 200 exhibitors from 27 countries and more than 60 official delegations experienced the kingdom. By the time the eighth edition wrapped up at the Royal Armed Forces air base, 26 strategic agreements had been signed in aerospace, space and defence, numbers that filled headlines across the region.
What drew quieter but no less striking praise was the security operation itself. A Kuwaiti official attending the show singled out the professionalism of the welcome extended to foreign delegations, a remark that speaks to something beyond diplomatic courtesy: Morocco’s growing ability to pair international openness with tight security coordination.
Much of that execution traces back to individual careers built across very different terrains. Colonel Mohamed Cherkaoui, who previously commanded the Royal Gendarmerie’s regional post in Tetouan, took charge of the Marrakech operation this time around. The contrast between his two postings is instructive. Tetouan sits on a border frontier shaped by smuggling routes and the proximity of occupied Sebta, demanding constant vigilance against cross-border threats. Marrakech, by contrast, is a tourism hub long accustomed to hosting international summits and economic gatherings, where the security challenge is one of scale and visibility rather than interdiction.
That rotation is not incidental. It reflects a deliberate approach within the Royal Gendarmerie’s command structure: circulating field-tested officers across regions rather than letting hard-won experience stay locked in one command. As Morocco keeps adding major international events to its calendar, sporting, economic and diplomatic alike, security has stopped being a mere logistical checkbox and become a genuine selling point. Foreign partners weighing an agreement or an investment increasingly factor in a host country’s capacity to guarantee their safety and ease of movement.
Coordination among Morocco’s different security bodies, repeatedly praised by organizers of the Marrakech show, and the trust placed in national institutions were described by officials on the ground as the surest guarantee that the kingdom will keep attracting high-profile international gatherings in the years ahead.
