A delayed European fishing agreement with Morocco is set to go ahead next month after the European Union shelved a dispute over its implications for the long-standing conflict in the Western Sahara.

The four-year agreement will see the EU pay Morocco €144m ($186m, £98m) in return for giving European fishing vessels (mainly Spanish and Portuguese) the right to trawl Morocco's Atlantic coastal waters, including the sea off the disputed territory of Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony that was invaded by Moroccan forces in 1975.