Rabat – Spain and Morocco have reached an agreement on a May 17 reopening of the Moroccan borders with the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska announced the news today, Spanish news outlet El Pais reported.
Moroccan news outlet Le360 confirmed the news from a government source, saying that the reopening will be “based on the criteria agreed upon” during different meetings between the two parties.
El Pais reported on Wednesday that Spain’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Albares had announced that he had reached an agreement with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita on Wednesday.
Albares was part of an international delegation that arrived in the city of Marrakech to attend the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS on May 11.
Albares emphasized that the Spanish Ministry of Interior will announce the date.
“We want it to be in an orderly, gradual way,” he said, stressing that the reopening will take place as part of a mutual agreement between both countries.
The reopening of borders between Morocco and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla will take place as part of a joint declaration released by Rabat and Madrid in April during Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s visit to Rabat.
Sanchez met with King Mohammed VI of Morocco in April, announcing a new phase of bilateral relations.
The joint declaration announced the immediate reopening of borders between Morocco and Spain. Borders between Morocco and the Spanish enclaves, however, have remained closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The Spanish government however has vowed that the reopening of the borders will take place soon, a key priority for local communities in the Spanish enclaves on the African continent.
The borders had been closed for a couple of years due to COVID-19 and Moroccan restrictions to avoid local illicit trafficking that has undermined the local economy.
