Spain and Morocco want to repair their tense relationship.

 At the Rabat meeting, Spain and Morocco want to repair their tense relationship.

RABAT: In an effort to mend a relationship marred by recurrent arguments over immigration and territory, Spain and Morocco have decided to put their disagreements aside, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday.

At a summit in Rabat, the two nations inked up to 20 agreements to increase trade and investment, including credit lines of up to 800 million euros ($873 million). Sanchez was speaking there.

"We have agreed on a commitment to mutual respect, whereby we will avoid whatever that we know offends the other party in our discourse and in our political practice, especially with our separate areas of sovereignty," Sanchez added.

 

Regular diplomatic disputes have been sparked by Morocco's conflict with rebels over Western Sahara, Spain's enclaves in Africa, and the influx of tens of thousands of unauthorized immigrants into Spain each year via Morocco.

The first customs checkpoints between Ceuta and Melilla were opened last year despite Morocco's refusal to acknowledge Spanish authority over the two cities. Madrid claims that demonstrates Rabat's acknowledgment of the enclaves as foreign territory, but neither Morocco nor any public statement it has made indicating that position has changed. Rather, Morocco has maintained that the enclaves should be a part of its territory.

In March 2022, Sanchez improved ties with Rabat after overturning Spain's four-decade Western Sahara policy by supporting Morocco's call for the creation of an independent entity. Making peace among the neighbors has put Sanchez's Socialists in some awkward situations.

 

According to a Spanish government source, Spain anticipates receiving a sizable portion of the 45 billion euros that Morocco is anticipated to invest in infrastructure improvements by 2050. According to the source, Spanish businesses are in a good position to secure concessions in important areas of Rabat's development strategy, like renewable energy and water sanitation. The development of additional train lines by state-owned railroad companies Renfe and Adif and their Moroccan counterpart might generate 6 billion euros in revenue. Another government source claimed that Spain is debating how to strike Morocco from a list of nations that are known to facilitate money laundering.

 

The Financial Action Task Force, a global organization located in Paris that monitors money laundering and terrorism financing, paid a visit to Morocco last month and is anticipated to make a judgment on whether or not to remove Morocco from the list later this month.

Aziz Akhannouch, the prime minister of Morocco, said he was pleased that Spain recognized Morocco's autonomy plan as the "most credible solution" to the Western Sahara conflict on Thursday in Rabat, but he made no mention of a deal to put an end to all sovereignty issues.

 

A joint statement underlined Spain's new stance on Western Sahara but made no mention of the Spanish enclaves in Morocco. Morocco stated that it anticipated Spain's future EU presidency would allow it to serve as a conduit for improved ties with the organization.

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