Marruecos-España: la Reunión de Alto Nivel se celebrará a finales de enero o principios de febrero, según lo previsto

As planned, Morocco and Spain will hold a High-Level Meeting (RAN) at the end of January or beginning of February. This has been assured by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, to Europa Press. Albares told the news agency that both Madrid and Rabat are working to set a date, since the meeting will be attended by numerous members of both governments. The head of Spanish diplomacy has also confirmed the expected reopening of customs in Melilla and the opening of a new one in Ceuta.

The RAN "is going to give a new boost to a bilateral relationship that is proving extraordinarily beneficial for both", Albares stressed, underlining that trade between the two countries has increased by almost 30% during 2022. Cooperation between the two countries has also led to a decrease in the number of migrant arrivals from the North African kingdom.  

Last October, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita confirmed that the Spanish-Moroccan meeting would take place in early 2023. According to Bourita, this meeting will mark a 'new phase' in relations between Rabat and Morocco and will reflect 'the positive spirit aimed at respecting the commitments that drive bilateral ties'.

This meeting was scheduled for December 2020, but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic at first and then because of the diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Rabat caused by the entry into Spain of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali.

The Moroccan minister stressed that the postponement would serve to "better prepare the meeting".  "We will have enough time to prepare the business forum and the mobilisation of all the parties interested in this relationship", he added.  

The meeting in early April between the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, and the President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, inaugurated this new stage in relations between the two kingdoms. A month earlier, the Spanish government announced its support for the Moroccan plan for the Sahara, defining it as the "most serious, credible and realistic" proposal to resolve the conflict.

Mohamed VI thanked Spain for its support during his speech on the 69th anniversary of the King and People's Revolution. "We appreciate Spain's clear and responsible position".

This shift in Madrid's foreign policy served to repair Spanish-Moroccan ties after several months of tension caused by Ghali's entry into Spain in April 2021 to be admitted to a hospital in Logroño.