The diplomatic warming between Morocco and Spain is moving into higher gear after the normalizations between Rabat and Madrid following the diplomatic incidents that have shaken the countries for more than a year. After this troubled period, a new era promises to be made of cooperation and agreement on all subjects, the latest being the reopening of customs offices at the border crossing points of the enclaves of Sebta and Melilla.
Following Morocco’s diplomatic success on the Sahara issue, Morocco and Spain resumed normal relations. For the first time since its withdrawal from the region 47 years ago, Spain has announced that it will fundamentally change its official position on the Sahara conflict. Madrid plays a central role in the conflict, being a member of the “Friends of Western Sahara” group alongside France, and the United States, Great Britain and Russia, and was its colonial power from 1884 to 1975.
In the same wake of the reconciliation, customs services in the enclaves of Sebta and Melilla will resume from January 2023, said Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, who was in Fez on Tuesday to participate in the two-day meeting of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC).
In a statement, the Spanish ministry answered questions about the June border drama that killed 23 migrants. The Spanish government is under fire after reports of illegal pushbacks. The Minister indicated that during his short meeting with his counterpart Nasser Bourita, he had not had time to discuss the file.
Albares says he is looking forward to the Morocco-Spain summit which is expected to take place early next year. The meeting was supposed to take place in November but was postponed so that the two countries could better prepare.
The last summit between the two countries took place in 2019. The next meeting aims to materialize the agreements reached this year on the sidelines of the visit of the Spanish Prime Minister at the invitation of King Mohammed VI. Morocco and Spain decided in April to end the diplomatic conflict and strengthen their relations.
The Morocco-Spain reconciliation sparked a diplomatic crisis with Algeria. Algiers called the Spanish about-face a “second betrayal of the Sahrawis” and recalled the Algerian ambassador to Madrid for consultations. Algeria has close trade relations with Spain, which gets more than a third of its natural gas from France, the third-largest buyer of Algerian gas, giving Algeria vulnerable leverage over Madrid. Recently, Spain, like other European countries, had sought to further reduce its dependence on Russian gas by sourcing more Algerian gas.
The United Nations World Forum to relaunch the dynamics of cooperation
Fez this week hosted the ninth edition of the Global Forum which took place at a time when a wide range of global challenges such as the rise of violent extremism, terrorism, xenophobia, racism and hate speech, discrimination, and radicalism. At the World Forum in Fez, particular attention was paid to Africa, a continent that has not yet taken its place in terms of collective action and global mobilization.
The choice of Morocco as the host country is “not a coincidence”, Bourita said in September when the news was announced at the United Nations General Assembly. The city of Fez was chosen for its “ancestral character and its spiritual symbolism”.
