Spanish FM: Safeguarding Ties with Morocco Is ‘Number One Priority’

Rabat – Maintaining good relations with Morocco is the “number one priority” of Spanish foreign policy, Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Jose Manuel Albares, said on Monday.

Albares explained that maintaining good relations with Morocco is in the best interest of the Spanish people, especially those residing in the Spanish enclaves Ceuta, Melilla, the Canary Islands, and Andalusia.

“All presidents and foreign ministers of our country have defined Morocco as the number one priority of Spain’s foreign policy,” Albares stressed at a forum organized by the consulting firm Llorente y Cuenca, on the occasion of the upcoming Spanish presidency of the European Union.

For the Spanish diplomat failing to have a “good relationship with Morocco is very harmful to the Spanish people,” the Spanish minister underscored.

Noting the recent development of relations between the two countries, Albares said that the two countries have laid the foundations for “a new relationship based on mutual respect and the non-use of unilateral acts.”

The Spanish FM added that the first results of these efforts are “already noticeable,” as they are reflected in the decrease in the flow of irregular immigrants to the Spanish coast from Morocco.

According to Albares, Morocco-Spanish cooperation on irregular immigration had already averted “thousands of deaths” in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

Morocco’s reestablished relations with Spain have also resulted in an increase in trade between the two countries. “The results are there and we see that we are managing things much better than a year and a half ago,” Albares concluded.

Morocco and Spain held on February 1 and 2, in Rabat, their 12th high-level meeting. Following the meeting, the two countries issued a Joint Declaration, in which both parties expressed their commitment to cementing excellent relations.

The declaration was followed by the signing of several cooperation agreements covering various areas, including migration management, tourism, and infrastructure, as well as, water resources, environment, and social security among others.