The Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch, held on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, in Rabat, talks with Angel Victor Torres, President of the Canary Islands Government, who is on a working visit to Morocco, in which the Spanish ambassador in Rabat, Ricardo Diez-Hochleitner, took part.

This visit is part of the continuation of the positive dynamics initiated by the holding, last February, of the 12th session of the Moroccan-Spanish High-Level Meeting, co-chaired by Mr. Akhannouch and his counterpart Perdo Sanchez.

The visit also paves the way for Spain’s regional governments to endorse the positive position of the central government in Madrid towards the national issue, which underlines the relevance of the autonomy plan as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the settlement of the phony dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.

The Head of Government welcomed on this occasion the solidity of relations between Morocco and the Canary Islands, stressing that the historical links and geographical proximity between the two parties, open promising prospects for the economic partnership.

The Head of Government has also praised the Canary Islands companies established in Morocco, which are taking advantage of the considerable opportunities offered by Morocco in the tourism and renewable energy sectors, pointing out that this economic partnership could be strengthened in the maritime industry, in the desalination of seawater and tourism promotion.

During this meeting, the two parties emphasized the quality of the coordination between Morocco and Spain on the issue of immigration and the fight against human trafficking networks and reviewed the means of strengthening the partnership and cooperation between the Canary Islands and the different regions of Morocco.

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Angel Victor Torres, the Prime Minister of the Canary Islands, will travel to Morocco on official business on Wednesday. This will be the first trip of this kind after the recent diplomatic rapprochement, which is being surrounded by controversy over the demarcation of maritime borders between Morocco, Spain, and the Canary Islands.

The visit, which is anticipated to last a day and a half and will primarily focus on bilateral issues, including the demarcation of borders, was revealed by Julio Perez, a spokesman for the Canary Islands government, during a press conference held after the Council of Ministers meeting on Thursday in Las Palmas.

Torres will be accompanied on the tour by José Ant, Minister of Ecological Transition, Combating Climate Change, and Territorial Planning, Government of the Canary Islands, and Elena Manez, Minister of Economy and Employment.

Because the Canarian political parties accused Torres of “depriving” the islands of their place in the border demarcation negotiations between Spain and Morocco, Torres has been the target of political pressure, which he passed on to Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish Prime Minister.

Announcing that “the Canary Islands would be present in the negotiations to demarcate the maritime borders with Morocco, as it will profit from the implementation of the articles of the joint declaration reached with Rabat in April,” Sanchez said at the end of November of last year. Additionally, he stated that the Canary Islands delegate had already attended two sessions in June and October of last year.

Meanwhile, the Spanish Ministry of Interior reported a reduction in migration waves to the Canary Islands of 24.9%, with only 682 migrants arriving in the first nine months of last year—4.7% fewer than during the same time in 2021. The joint agreement that the two nations signed on March 18 of last year, according to the ministry, was responsible for this decline.

The Spanish Ministry of Interior had noted an increase in immigration rates of approximately 73.2% at the beginning of the year compared to the year before, but this surge decreased to 34.7% after one month.

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