Canary Islands President Welcomes Renewed Spain-Morocco Maritime Border Talks

"The relaunch of this Spanish-Moroccan working group created in 2003 and in which a Canarian representative sat, is good news, because everything must be done (the delimitation of maritime borders) within the framework of the United Nations," Torres said in a statement to the press.

To read: Spain Affirms Sovereignty Over Canary Islands Waters Despite UN Fishing Zone Classification

The President of the Canary Islands stressed the need to maintain good diplomatic relations with Morocco and also reaffirmed his willingness to visit Rabat, as almost all of his predecessors have done. He assured that he will make this trip before the end of the term, now that relations between Spain and Morocco have been restored, according to Canarias7.

To read: Morocco Reaffirms Maritime Border Laws, Defying Spanish Concerns

However, Torres warned that he will remain firm in defending the territorial waters of the archipelago, recalling that Morocco had enacted in 2020 two laws to unilaterally delimit its territorial waters to 12 miles, its exclusive zone to 200 miles and extend its continental shelf to 250 miles, using the coast of Western Sahara as a reference.

The consequence of this delimitation was that it encroached on Spanish territorial waters, including the Canary Islands, which had led the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government of the Canary Islands to denounce this "unilateral" approach by Rabat.