The main aspects of the establishment and development of trade and economic relations between the USSR and Morocco in the late 1950s – 1960s

This article is devoted to the analysis of Soviet-Moroccan trade and economic relations in the first decade of Morocco's independent existence. The subject of the study is the reasons for establishing contacts between the countries, the institutional framework of partnership, the role of visits by the leaders of the two countries in developing cooperation and determining its priorities. Special attention is paid to the practical aspects of economic cooperation in the 1960s, including the structure of trade turnover, financing and implementation of the first projects, as well as the difficulties encountered in this work. The objective of the research is to study the mechanisms of cooperation between the USSR and Morocco in this area, the tools for adapting the foreign economic practice of the Soviet Union to Moroccan specifics and the key results of joint activities at the initial stage. The main sources of the study were archival materials from foreign trade agencies and organizations of the USSR responsible for developing economic relations with Morocco, and publications of Moroccan periodicals from the 1960s. The methods used in the article include the processing of archival data and the comparative historical method. As a result of the conducted research, the prerequisites for the establishment and development of trade and economic relations between the Soviet Union and Morocco in the middle of the 20th century are identified, the regulatory framework and practical aspects of cooperation are described. The key conclusion is an indication of the fact that the trade imbalance that existed from the very beginning of the exchange, as well as a number of discrepancies in approaches with the Moroccan government to the implementation of joint projects, including due to the lack of a long history of practical contacts, were not fully taken into account by the Soviet side in the early years of cooperation and created prerequisites for the manifestation of systemic problems in the future.