The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita will meet this Wednesday the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Albares. It will be the third meeting between the two after the thaw caused by the visit of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to Rabat on April the 7th during Ramadan where he met King Mohammed VI. At that meeting the foundations of the new stage of the two-way relationship were laid. The new contact between the two ministers is part of the normality in which the diplomatic relationship is currently taking place and some announcements could come out of it.
Albares and Bourita met twice at the beginning of May in Marrakech during the coalition of countries fighting against the Islamic State. Then, both announced the reopening of the borders in Sebta and Melilia, which took place on May 17th.
The new face-to-face meeting between the two comes to stage the good understanding between the two countries after coming out of the crisis because of the reception in Spain of the polisario front leader, brahim ghali, and because of the position regarding the Sahara. The letter from the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to King Mohammed VI, in which he states that the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara is “the most solid basis” for a solution, opened this new stage and led to a joint declaration that now serves as a roadmap.
Within the same meeting, it was agreed to reactivate some existing working groups, such as the one related to migration issues or the one for the delimitation of territorial waters in the Canary Islands, as well as create new ones.
These working groups must report on their progress in preparation for the high-level meeting that Sánchez and the Moroccan monarch have promised to hold before the end of the year, thus resuming the summit scheduled for December 2020, which was postponed due to the pandemic and that never took place.