The HLM, in which some twenty agreements will be signed, will take place on Thursday after a floral offering by Sánchez at the mausoleum of Mohammed V

Akhannouch recibe a Sánchez en Rabat para copresidir la RAN

photo_camera PHOTO/JALAL MORCHIDI/EPA - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez meets with Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch in Rabat on 1 February 2023

The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, was received on Wednesday by his Moroccan counterpart, Aziz Akhannouch, on his arrival in Rabat to co-chair the 12th High Level Meeting (HLM) in which it is hoped to definitively seal the normalisation of bilateral relations.

The Spanish Air Force plane in which Sánchez travelled along with a dozen of his ministers who will participate in this summit landed at the Moroccan capital's airport.

There, the head of the Spanish government was received with military honours and, after greeting the respective ministerial delegations, held an initial meeting with Akhannouch before they both travelled to the business forum that serves as a prologue to the High-Level Meeting.

The Spanish government attaches great importance to this forum for boosting relations in the economic and commercial sphere, an objective that is the focus of the financial protocol to be signed during the summit, which, with a budget of 800 million euros, will facilitate investment by Spanish companies in Morocco.

Antonio Garamendi, president of the Spanish employers' association CEOE, was expected to attend the forum, but in the end he has not travelled to Rabat "for personal reasons", according to sources from the organisation.

Garamendi is absent from this event after having refused to participate in the meetings with the government and trade unions to negotiate the increase in the minimum wage, which Sánchez announced on Tuesday will be 8%.

The forum will be closed by Sánchez and Akhannouch, and will be attended, among others, by the Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, and the Moroccan Ministers of Economy and Industry, Nadia Fettah and Ryad Mezzour, respectively.

The HLM, in which some twenty agreements will be signed, will take place on Thursday after a floral tribute to be made by Sánchez at the mausoleum of Mohammed V.

Finally, the President of the Government will not meet with the Moroccan King on the occasion of this summit, as he is out of the country.

For this reason, Mohammed VI had a telephone conversation with Sánchez in which they agreed that the HLM will be a success and will serve to consolidate the new stage in bilateral relations.

In this conversation, the head of government accepted an invitation from the king to pay an official visit to Rabat in the near future, according to both the Moroccan government and the Royal Court.

More in Politics