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Rabat – The Morocco-Spain high-level meeting will take place in the last week of January or in early February as planned, according to Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Albares.
The Spanish official told Europa Press that the summit is “going to provide a new momentum in a bilateral relationship that is being extraordinarily beneficial for both [countries],” he said.
The official stressed the importance of cooperation between the two countries recalling that trade between Morocco and Spain increased by almost 30% in 2022.
Albares also touted cooperation against irregular migration with Morocco, emphasizing that the arrivals of migrants from the North African country have decreased.
The official also confirmed the intention of reopening Melilla’s customs as well as a new opening in Ceuta before the summit on November 24.
The high-level meeting, which was set to take place in December 2020, was postponed several times.
In October 2022, Bourita said in a press conference that the postponement would allow for “better preparation for the event.”
Morocco’s foreign minister continued, “We will have enough time to prepare the parliamentary forum, the business forum, and the mobilization of all stakeholders in this relationship,” he said.
Land borders between Morocco and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla reopened in May last year after the two countries decided to restore their normal diplomatic ties.
The normalcy in diplomatic ties between the two countries followed tensions that had lasted over a year.
Tensions were fuelled back in 2021 when Spain angered Morocco after it hosted Polisario leader Brahim Ghali for hospitalization. Rabat described the move as a unilateral action that is against the principle of mutual respect and transparency between the two countries.
It was not until March 2022 that diplomatic ties between the two countries improved after Spain’s decision to endorse Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible basis to end the dispute over Western Sahara.
The endorsement of Morocco’s autonomy initiative was followed by the visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Rabat in April 2022, when he met with King Mohammed VI.
The visit marked the end of a diplomatic rift between the two countries, which have since then reiterated their determination to continue to build on their cooperation and diplomatic ties.
