Melilla customs with Morocco has reopened after six and a half years. After the unilateral blockade imposed by Rabat in 2018, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, announced this Wednesday that he has already registered the passage of goods bound for the Maghreb country, in what he described as an “initial phase” towards normalization.
In statements to the media from Beirut (Lebanon), where he is on an official visit, the minister explained that the customs of Ceuta will also reopen soonalthough no specific dates have been given. That of Ceuta is the customs that Spain and Morocco agreed to reopen in April 2022, during the visit to the neighboring country of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to recover relations with the Alawite kingdom, which had been seriously damaged a year before.
The minister had acknowledged last Monday that Spain and Morocco had agreed on the first passage of goods through both customs on January 8, but finally He alluded to “technical problems” that ruined it and the two trucks with different products that had crossed from the two autonomous cities returned to their starting point.
Albares has expressed his chest that what happened this Wednesday “is further proof that the roadmap and the commitments that Spain and Morocco have made are fulfilled.” Likewise, he wanted to make it clear that “this is not any evidence”like the three that took place throughout 2023, but it is “an official passage” of goods.
“This demonstrates the commitment of Morocco to Spain and of Spain to Morocco in what is already, at all levels, the best moment of our relationship“, added the head of diplomacy, visibly satisfied with the result of the first step through the reopened customs.
#Melilla #customs #Morocco #reopens #years
