Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hosted his Moroccan counterpart in Madrid on Thursday for talks with the European Union’s strategic North African neighbour, notably on the delicate Western Sahara.
The huge, resource-rich former Spanish colony largely managed by Morocco has lengthy difficult nearer relations between Rabat and the bloc, with the Algeria-backed Polisario Front searching for independence for the territory.
Spain improved its beforehand fraught ties with Morocco in 2022 after supporting Rabat’s plan to grant the Western Sahara autonomy beneath Moroccan sovereignty, a stance additionally supported by the United States and France.
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Sánchez and Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch have been on account of focus on the Western Sahara earlier than the signing of agreements, together with on agriculture and fishing.
Rabat is searching for beneficial properties within the administration of the Western Sahara’s airspace, managed by Spain from the Atlantic archipelago of the Canary Islands.
“When there’s a territory beneath a rustic’s sovereignty, it’s higher that the nation takes cost of managing all air, land or maritime issues,” Moroccan Trade Minister Ryad Mezzour advised El Mundo day by day.
Immigration was on account of be one other key subject. Morocco is a key EU companion in managing irregular migration, sharing the bloc’s solely land border with Africa on the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
“Morocco is taking part in a significant function in combating unlawful immigration,” Mezzour advised El Mundo.
“We are making each effort, along with our companions, to do what we should accomplish that that it isn’t an issue.”
