Spanish king calls for materialising new relationship with Morocco

MADRID - King Felipe VI of Spain highlighted Monday the importance of redefining the relationship with Morocco on "stronger and more solid pillars."

"With Morocco, our respective governments have agreed to redefine together a relationship for the 21st century, based on stronger and more solid pillars," said the Spanish monarch during a reception granted to the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Spain.

"Now, both nations must walk together to start materializing this new relationship", said King Felipe VI.

The Spanish Sovereign said that the relations of his country with the Maghreb "have a strategic character".

"Our proximity and the intensity of the many ties that unite us make our relationship clearly interdependent. For this reason, our country will continue to make every effort to create and consolidate a common space of peace, stability and prosperity," he added.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that Spain and Morocco maintain a "strategic cooperation" in all areas.

"For Spain, Morocco is a strategic partner with which we must walk together," Sanchez noted during a joint press briefing with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is visiting Spain.

"We appreciate the partnership and strategic cooperation that we have with Morocco," said Sanchez.

Ties between Morocco and Spain hit all time-lows last April after Madrid admitted Algerian-backed Polisario Front leader, Brahim Ghali, for medical treatment with a false identity and without informing Rabat.

Morocco then appeared to relax border controls with Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta on May 17, leading to an influx of at least 8,000 migrants.

On June 9, Morocco's foreign minister Nasser Bourita accused Spain of trying to turn a political crisis between the two countries into an EU problem by focusing on migration and ignoring the root causes.