Perspective and prospects of decentralized cooperation Spain-Morocco in Rabat

The workshop that brings together local authorities from Morocco and Spain aims to establish a first assessment of cooperation programs led by local governments of both countries, highlight the successful experiences in this area and establish a joint roadmap to promote and strengthen ties between municipalities, provincial councils and other local authorities on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar.

With a workshop format and under the auspices of the Moroccan association of presidents of prefectural and provincial councils (AMPCPP), this Spanish-Moroccan institutional meeting will serve to learn first hand some successful initiatives in the field of local cooperation as is the cooperation program that leads for over 20 years the City of Malaga with Moroccan cities such as Tangier, Tetouan, Al Hoceima and Nador and has received financial support for a long period, by the European Union through cross-border cooperation programs.

The Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de La Torre Prados, will present to his Moroccan hosts in Rabat, a compendium of the 25 years of cooperation of the city of Malaga with cities of the Kingdom of Morocco, in fact Malaga is the Spanish city that leads the decentralized cooperation with the neighboring country, which has not only limited itself to signing agreements but for more than two decades and always with the support of the European Union has managed to weave a network of cooperation with cities in northern and southern Morocco and develop several projects that have allowed to carry out activities in several priority areas for municipalities such as improving municipal governance, promoting entrepreneurship and revitalizing the local economy or the rehabilitation and enhancement of the architectural heritage.

Proof of this leadership of the city of Malaga was the historic event that took place in this city in 2019 during which 30 mayors of Moroccan cities as important as Fez or Agadir and representatives of 33 Moroccan local entities signed a document showing their support to the City of Malaga to request both governments and the European Union to launch a new cross-border cooperation program. 

In recent years, we have witnessed the multiplication of meetings and initiatives of decentralized Spanish-Moroccan cooperation thanks to the impetus of another reference entity: the regional government of the Junta de Andalucía, which, through the Ministry of Presidency and its operational arm in international cooperation, the Andalusian Agency for International Cooperation for Development, has managed to maintain and develop the ties that link the local authorities of Andalusia with their counterparts, mainly in the northern part of Morocco.

In Rabat, will be Enrique Millo Rocher, Secretary General of External Action, European Union and Cooperation of the Government of Andalusia, who will present the efforts being made by his department to further strengthen the Strait of Gibraltar.

In addition to the representatives of the Andalusian entities, the workshop will be attended by a large delegation of representatives of the municipalities of the Canary Islands led by the president of the Federation of Canary Islands Municipalities (FECAM) and mayor of Candelaria, Maria Concepcion Brito.

According to Nourdine Mouati, who coordinates several cooperation programs concerning the two countries and who will animate, during the Rabat workshop, the debate on the future of the Spanish-Moroccan decentralized cooperation:

This meeting takes on great relevance given that it will be attended by elected officials from both countries who distinguish themselves by firmly believing in the global strategic partnership between the two countries and who are willing, as they have already demonstrated in the past, to actively participate in strengthening the institutional, cultural and economic ties that unite the two twinned peoples... The two central governments would do well to involve local entities in bilateral meetings and it is necessary, more than ever, to establish a joint financing framework for projects promoted by local governments of both nations.