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Rabat – Spanish Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska has again extolled the diplomatic relations between Spain and Morocco.
Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) quoted the official’s remarks during a meeting with the Interior Commission in the Spanish Senate.
The Spanish official told deputies that the relations between Morocco and Spain are “excellent, important, and remarkable.”
“I would say that everything can be improved, but relations are very close and very important,” he said.
Grande-Marlaska also spoke about of his country’s collaboration with Morocco in the fight against irregular migration and human trafficking.
The minister said that he paid several trips to Morocco to hold meetings with Moroccan officials as part of their bilateral cooperation.
Officials from Spain, including the Interior Minister, acknowledged that Morocco’s cooperation in the field helped Spain to curb the number of irregular migrants arriving on its coast by more than half. Morocco’s security services managed to abort more than 74,000 irregular migration attempts last year.
Statistics from the Spanish Ministry of Interior show that the number of irregular migrants arriving by sea in Spain declined by more than 21% at the end of April compared to the same period of the previous year.
Approximately 5,068 migrants crossed the Spanish coast illegally on makeshift boats in the first four months of 2020 compared with 6,429 migrants at the end of April of the previous year.
The number represents a decline of 21.2%.
During the same period, a total of 261 boats arrived in Spain. Again compared to figures at the end of April 2019, this represents an increase of 23.7%.
