Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albareswill visit Rabat this Wednesday and Thursday to make his first trip to the new parliament. This will also be the first face-to-face meeting between representatives from both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. Pedro Sánchez He managed to form a new government. Until now, the Chief Executive had only had a telephone conversation with his Moroccan counterpart, a few days after taking the oath of office.
Albares will stay in the Maghreb country for more than 24 hours, which according to Spanish diplomatic sources “importance“The purpose of the visit is to follow the road map agreed upon at the end of the last legislative meeting. The visit will be marked by a meeting with his counterpart this Thursday. Nasser BouritaBut he will also hold meetings with Spanish businessmen and aid workers. Moreover, according to the same sources, he is also planned to visit the Spanish school in the city. The Minister may also visit Rabat after passing through Mauritania And SenegalHowever, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet confirmed this.
Albares knows Morocco and his counterpart in the country well. Meetings with Bourita have been constant: they met eight times in the last parliament, making him one of the Foreign Ministers he has met most. Stages of relationship between neighbors marked High Level Meeting (RAN) It was held at the beginning of February. A summit that served to chart a new path after the diplomatic crisis that drove the two countries apart due to the leader’s hospitalization Polisario, Brahim GaliThe crisis led to Sánchez’s decision to become President VI almost a year later. It ended with a letter he sent to Mohammed in which he considered Morocco’s proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara to be “the most serious, realistic and convincing basis”. Way to resolve differences.
Since the monarch was out of the country, Sánchez and VI of the RAN There were no meetings between Mohammed, but he invited him to visit Rabat again for talks. A meeting with no date for now. It is unknown whether this visit will take place in the near future and whether Albares’ trip will be used to organize this visit. In previous parliaments, the first official trip of Spanish presidents after taking office was Morocco. Sánchez’s first outing, Israel, Palestine and Egypt.
economic relations
This new phase between both countries has significant economic significance. Morocco opened the door for Spanish companies to participate in strategic projects. Spaniards a month ago ActionTogether with two Moroccan companies, it received the tender for the construction, management and maintenance of the planned large desalination plant. White House. The participation of Spanish companies in the renewal of the Moroccan railway network was also on the table at RAN. Although the main news of recent months that concerns both countries is men’s football world cupWith Portugal in 2030.
Another issue that was agreed upon at the summit but has not yet been determined and implemented is: Commercial customs in Ceuta and Melilla. Although only some tests and exercises at the border have been reported so far, the date has not yet been marked on the calendar, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has always insisted that this issue should be done “regularly and gradually”.
Cooperation on issues immigrant This is another major pillar of relations between Madrid and Rabat and another of the recurring topics at the meetings. Despite the arrival of immigrants or refugees to the peninsula, Ceuta And Melilla There has been an increase in the number of people coming to the Canary Islands this year, despite the numbers decreasing considerably in recent months. According to the figures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2023 34,000 people This figure for the archipelago exceeds the figure in 2006, known as the ‘cayucos crisis’. The deaths haven’t stopped either: 868 people have died or gone missing on the Canary Islands route so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).