Nasser Bourita y Arancha González Laya escenifican la buena relación entre Marruecos y España
Nasser Bourita, Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Spanish counterpart Arancha González Laya held a meeting via videoconference to discuss various matters of interest to the Moroccan kingdom and Spain. Both diplomats expressed the good harmony that exists between the two countries, in line with what the heads of state of the two countries have been saying.
In fact, the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, has been describing Spain as his country's 'natural partner', demonstrating the good relations between the two Mediterranean neighbours.
In the framework of their online interview, Nasser Bourita and Arancha González Laya referred to the upcoming High-Level Meeting, which will be held as soon as health conditions improve. This meeting should have already taken place but, due to the pandemic, the visit of Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to Morocco had to be postponed.
Both Morocco and Spain are working to strengthen collaboration in various key sectors such as the economy, culture and education. It was also made clear in the telematic meeting that both nations want to develop and strengthen ties between them in order to make the most of the economic and commercial boom that is expected when the current pandemic of the coronavirus ends, or at least when its impact eases considerably. Morocco has been working for months to minimise the impact of the health crisis, with restrictions and important measures aimed at reducing infections and deaths, along with the planning of an ambitious vaccination campaign to immunise as much of the population as possible in the shortest possible time. As an example, it has been reported in the last few hours that the North African country has restricted air connections with certain countries, such as the United Kingdom and Turkey, in order to prevent the further spread of the pathogen.
Spain also continues to fight against COVID-19 and is immersed in a vaccination campaign aimed at reversing the impact of the virus. It is also taking certain restrictive measures to prevent an increase in the number of infections, while waiting for a better situation to reactivate the economy and, above all, a sector as important for the coming summer as tourism, a major source of national income.
The Moroccan and Spanish foreign ministers also analysed several topics such as security and the fight against jihadism, focusing on the fight against terrorism in key areas such as North Africa and the Sahel region. These are important areas for both countries given the interest in greater regional stability in order to avoid the outbreak of more conflicts and associated problems such as irregular migration. Special mention was made regarding Libya and its current path towards peace initiated with the talks between the opposing parties in the Libyan civil war aimed at reaching agreements regarding the country's institutions and the holding of elections next December after designating Abdul Hamid Dbeibah to head the new Libyan government. All this was the result of negotiations that took place in Libya itself, in Egypt, in Switzerland and in Morocco, the latter country having collaborated intensively in bringing peace to the North African country.
In the telematic meeting between Nasser Bourita and Arancha González Laya, reference was also made to the great diplomatic progress that is being made regarding the situation in Western Sahara, whose solution is envisaged within a form of autonomy included in Morocco's sovereign structure. Most of the international community advocates the recognition of the Sahara as an autonomy integrated into the Kingdom, especially after express support of this formula by Donald Trump's US administration, which recognised Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, while the Alawite kingdom established diplomatic ties with Israel, following in the footsteps of other Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, which recognised the Israeli state thanks to pacts sponsored by the North American giant.
