Morocco-Spain Summit Tackles Migration, Maritime Borders, and Trade Issues

No representative of the Canary Islands will attend this meeting, which will address a "strategic and very sensitive" issue for this autonomous community, lamented Luis Campos, the spokesperson for the Nueva Canarias (NC) parliamentary group, on Monday. The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, is expected to visit Morocco, probably after this summit which, according to the Moncloa, will consolidate the new relationship between Spain and Morocco, launched in March after Spain’s change of position on the Sahara.

In addition to the delimitation of maritime borders, the delegations of the two countries will take stock of their collaboration in the fight against terrorism, which has enabled the dismantling of several terrorist groups linked to the Islamic State. Migration cooperation will also be evaluated in light of the significant (-25%) decrease in migrant arrivals on the Spanish coasts, observed since the normalization of relations between the two countries, and the tragedy of Melilla that resulted in the death of at least 23 migrants.

Furthermore, commercial cooperation will be at the heart of the discussions. Spain has been Morocco’s main trading partner for more than a decade and trade between the two countries reached nearly 10 billion euros in 2022, 33% more than the previous year. Also, 355 Spanish companies are established in Morocco. It is because of this strong commercial partnership that the summit will open on Wednesday with an economic forum organized by the employers’ organizations of the two countries.

The installation of a customs office in Ceuta and the reopening of the Melilla customs are two highly anticipated issues. Morocco has always claimed the two Spanish enclaves. In the joint declaration of April, the two countries agreed to "normalize the movement of people and goods in an orderly manner, including the appropriate customs and people control system on land and at sea".