Pedro Sánchez will travel with a dozen ministers to the summit agreed in April last year at his meeting with King Mohammed VI

España y Marruecos celebrarán la Reunión de Alto Nivel en Rabat el 1 y 2 de febrero

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The "close, important and solid relationship" that unites Spain and Morocco will be reinforced at the next High Level Meeting (RAN). This is how the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who announced the summit to be held on 1 and 2 February, described it, assuring that "a good number of agreements" will be signed during this visit. This new meeting represents "a further fulfilment" of the road map that was reflected in the document signed on 7 April by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI.

The Spanish delegation led by President Sánchez will include a dozen ministers and will be the first since 2015, when Mariano Rajoy was still Prime Minister. This is an unusual situation, as in the past it was usually held annually or biannually. However, the two planned in 2020 and 2021 were not held, the first as a result of the pandemic, and the other due to the crisis arising from the Ghali case. On this occasion, the ministers will meet with their Moroccan counterparts in the capital, Rabat, where they hope to deepen political, economic and cooperation relations.
 
Both Albares and his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, have assured that the intention is to reopen the customs office in Melilla, as well as the opening of a new one in Ceuta. It is hoped that all this can be carried out before the Spanish delegation travels to Morocco. One of the fundamental objectives of the RAN in February will be to restore the proper functioning of the borders: "the full normalisation of the movement of people and goods will be re-established in an orderly manner, including the appropriate customs and people control mechanisms on land and at sea".

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The reception of Brahim Ghali opened a deep diplomatic rift between Spain and Morocco that began to close with the letter sent by Pedro Sánchez in which he recognised the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara as 'the most solid, credible and realistic basis' for a solution to the conflict. Following this, Sánchez visited the Alawi kingdom, where he met with Mohammed VI, thus sealing the open wound. Furthermore, after the meeting between the president and the monarch, the borders of Ceuta and Melilla were gradually and partially reopened.
 
Both parties have pledged to "relaunch and strengthen cooperation in the area of migration" in order to be able to control irregular immigration. To this end, what have been held - since the resumption of relations between Madrid and Rabat - have been meetings of the Permanent Spanish-Moroccan Group on Migration. As did one of the working groups in charge of dealing with another hot topic, the delimitation of the waters between the Kingdom's coast and the Canary Islands. Thus, the February RAN is an important step forward for relations and a sign of the strengthening of the Spain-Morocco link.

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