HM the King’s Telephone Conversation with Pedro Sánchez Marks Beginning of Solid, Exemplary Bilateral Partnership – Central American Experts

The telephone conversation between HM King Mohammed VI and Spanish Government President Pedro Sánchez marks the beginning of a solid and exemplary partnership between Morocco and Spain, according to a number of experts from Central America. This interview reflects the concern of HM the King to establish an exemplary partnership between Rabat and Madrid turned to the future with the aim of addressing the challenges facing the Mediterranean, these experts told MAP. For instance, the President of the Mexican Studies Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Andrés Ordóñez said that thanks to His wisdom and insight, HM King Mohammed VI is fully aware of the magnitude of issues and challenges facing the region in a world in perpetual change. The invitation extended by the Sovereign to the president of the Spanish government to visit Morocco marks a “new and important” stage in relations between the two countries, he explained. He further noted that these talks reaffirm the firm commitment of HM the King to foster exemplary relations between Morocco and its neighbors and strategic partners including Spain, and this in the interest of the peoples of the region in all areas. This upcoming visit will allow to draw a new roadmap to govern bilateral relations, added Ordóñez, who had served as ambassador of Mexico in Morocco. Agreeing with him, the professor of public policy at UNAM, Díaz de la Vega García, highlighted the key role of HM the King in the new Moroccan-Spanish dynamic, adding that this royal leadership has helped overcome a “delicate period” in relations between the two countries and open promising prospects for bilateral and multilateral cooperation. He noted that recent developments in Rabat-Madrid relations are likely to have a positive impact on the dynamics of development and prosperity in the Mediterranean region and North Africa, especially since both countries enjoy a strategic location between Africa and Europe. For his part, Román López Villicaña, professor of international relations at the University of the Americas in Mexico City, said that Morocco and Spain have laid the foundations of a distinguished and mutually beneficial relationship. He has, in this context, highlighted the pioneering role of the Sovereign in the development of a promising roadmap in line with the secular relations that unite the two kingdoms. The expert highlighted the unequivocal support of Spain to the Moroccan autonomy initiative to end the dispute over the Sahara, considering it a “new victory” of Moroccan diplomacy that reinforces the growing international recognition of the rightness of the national cause. In the same vein, the former Guatemalan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rodrigo Montufar, said that Spain has just inaugurated a new stage in its relations with Morocco, by supporting the efforts made to strengthen security and stability in the region. Through this new position, Madrid calls on Rabat to open a new page in their relationship and confirms by the same token the relevance of the autonomy initiative under Moroccan sovereignty, noted this professor of international relations at Guatemala’s Rafael Landívar University. For her part, the Guatemalan journalist Vida Amor de Paz stressed that through its new position on the Sahara issue, Spain “categorically rejects the separatist impulses that threaten the security and stability of the region and signals the beginning of a new era in relations between Rabat and Madrid, hence between Africa and Europe.” It is also a decisive step in the process of resolving the artificial regional conflict around the Moroccan Sahara, said this specialist in international relations.