Moroccan FM meets Spanish counterpart – discusses strengthening trade & Sahara

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has hailed bi-lateral relations with Spain as the ‘“best phase ever”, speaking at a press conference in Madrid, with his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares. Spain is now Morocco’s top trading partner, with a bilateral trade volume exceeding 22.5 billion euros annually while Morocco is Spain’s largest trading partner outside the EU. Spain also backed strengthening EU-Morocco ties, after the bloc's top court cancelled trade deals with its strategic neighbor, according to reports by AFP. With regard Sahara, Spain reaffirmed, according to local media reports, that the autonomy initiative is “the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the resolution” of the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.