King Mohamed VI of Morocco will not receive the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his participation in the High Level Meeting (RAN) that is being held today and tomorrow in Rabat.
In a telephone conversation that they had before Sánchez took off from Madrid, the monarch of the Alauí kingdom has summoned him to “make an official visit soon” to his country, as reported by La Moncloa in a statement.
The Spanish government has downplayed this fact, noting that the call between the two authorities lasted half an hour, “the usual duration of an in-person hearing.” “This demonstrates the personal involvement of the King of Morocco in achieving the best results of this RAN,” they specify.
Both the king and the president have agreed to “continue promoting the relationship between the two countries” and have agreed that the bilateral summit being held for the first time in eight years “will be a success” and will contribute to “consolidating a new stage in the relations between Morocco and Spain”, according to Sánchez’s team.
No official meeting between the Spanish president and the Moroccan monarch had been included in the agenda of the meeting that is being held these days in Rabat -distributed this morning by the Secretary of State for Communication-, although sources from La Moncloa had not previously ruled out that could be produced. After the telephone call that has put an end to that possibility, they underline the fact that this meeting is “between governments”.
The Royal House of Morocco, for its part, has issued another statement in which it highlights that the commitments adopted between Mohamed VI and Sánchez in April 2022 after Spain’s political turn in its international policy on the Sahara “have been substantially implemented”. . Likewise, he has underlined the “warm” nature of the dialogue between the two interlocutors.
“In order to reinforce this positive dynamic in the excellent bilateral strategic partnership, His Majesty the King has invited the head of the Spanish Government to make an official visit to Morocco in the near future. This visit will be an opportunity to further strengthen bilateral relations, through through concrete actions marked by efficiency and tangible projects in strategic areas of common interest”, they stress.
Today’s and tomorrow’s appointment means resuming the High-Level Meetings that, according to the Friendship Treaty signed between the two countries, should be held annually, but which had not been convened since 2015. Relations between these two neighbors with both land and Maritime conflicts have been marked in recent decades by their deep economic, religious and political differences, in addition to a colonial past and territorial claims pending resolution.
For this reason, the Executive of Sánchez considers that this is a “historic” appointment – attended by 11 ministers from the PSOE coalition quota and none from United We Can – in which he trusts that the foundations can be laid for the “definitive fit »of cooperation between two «strategic partners» so that they are not «recurrently doomed to periodic crises». At the end of the bilateral meeting that will be held between today and tomorrow in Rabat, it is expected that some twenty major agreements will be signed that will help to unravel the problems and strengthen their ties in all areas.
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