The sit-in of the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, against the President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez in the African country, is still kicking in, especially in Spain. The Foreign Minister, who had difficulties explaining that absence, has today denied that Morocco has humiliated Spain and has insisted that the good relations between Sánchez and Mohamed VI are beyond doubt.
In relation to that visit by Sánchez to Morocco is the situation that businessmen from Ceuta and Melilla are going through, who They were very aware of that summit to see if Spain and Morocco already agreed on the date for the reopening of their customsHowever, it has not been like that.
First of all, it should be noted that there are almost 18.000 (17,600) Spanish companies that export to Morocco and that the figure for said business around 10,000 (9,870) million euros. All these companies are being affected by this customs blockade.
There is no date to avoid avalanches at customs
According to the Government, the two countries have agreed to open up progressively and that there has not been an announcement of a specific date to avoid an avalanche. Businessmen from Ceuta and Melilla are very concerned about the current situation.
“This is playing with the hope of hundreds of businessmen and workers in this city,” explains Enrique Alcoba, president of the Melilla Business Confederation. “The longer it takes us to organize the commercial customs between Ceuta, Melilla and Morocco there will be more possibilities to return to atypical cross-border trade,” says Arantxa Campos, president of Empresarios de Ceuta.
Other agreements between Spain and Morocco
The two Executives have also addressed the question of the Sahara. In this regard, Spain has reiterated the position already expressed in the joint declaration of April 7, 2022, by which considered the Moroccan autonomy initiative as the “most serious, realistic and credible” basis for that territory.
Spain wants to be a “reference investor” in Morocco, and for this reason a new financial protocol has been agreed, endowed with up to 800 million euros, which will boost investments in sectors such as railwayswater, agri-food or tourism.