Rabat – Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares, will hold an inter ministerial meeting on Monday, June 28, to prepare for negotiations with Morocco around the maritime borders of the two countries.
The meeting will focus on “the various issues that will be addressed during the meeting of the working group on the delimitation of maritime spaces in the Atlantic seaboard between Spain and Morocco,” the Spanish news agency EFE reported.
Work is now being resumed on the negotiations after relations started warming between Madrid and Rabat again, following a diplomatic crisis that lasted for nearly a year.
The talks will also revolve around Morocco’s decision to delimit its territorial sea in 2020, extending over 12 nautical miles from Morocco’s coasts, in accordance with international law.
Another law the North African country enacted in 2020 extended its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by over 200 nautical miles from the coasts, and limited its continental shelf 350 nautical miles away from the coasts.
Under international law, Morocco has the right to establish artificial islands in its EEZ and exploit them, as well as a right to scientific research and using submerged pipelines and cables.
Read also: Bourita Says Morocco Has a Sovereign Right to Redefine Its Maritime Borders
While the Moroccan decision caused controversy in Spain, Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita maintained that the North African country’s decision to delimit its maritime borders was consistent with international law.
The inter ministerial meeting will also be attended by a representative from the Canary Islands, who feared losing a large part of their waters following the Moroccan decision in 2020.
