Zapatero's visit to Morocco, 'reunion between two nations', Spanish official
Morocco-Spain, Politics, 4/24/2004

The visit to be paid Saturday to Morocco by new Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, must be considered as a "reunion between two nations" across the Gibraltar Strait, said, in Madrid Friday, Maria Teresa Fernandez De La Vega, First deputy president of the Spanish Government.

The Spanish official told a press conference that the two countries must leave behind what she described as "misunderstandings" that marked their relations during the past three years, and put an end to a period of "useless tensions." The Spanish official was alluding to the 2002 dispute over the tiny Island of Perejil (for Spaniards) and Leila (for Moroccans).

She added that Zapatero's visit, the first to be paid abroad since his investiture last week, is important for both countries on the "strategic, economic, social and political levels."

De La Vega deems that both countries must "understand each other," noting that today's world is witnessing "not a clash of civilizations" but a firm struggle of "civilization against the barbarism of terrorism."

Zapatero's talks with Moroccan officials will cover the fight against terrorism and illegal immigration, Spanish Government sources said.

Prior to his brief visit, The new Spanish premier said his country needs to improve its relations with Morocco without any mediation "to guarantee stability and neighbourliness" in the west of the Mediterranean.

In an interview published by the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo" Zapatero, said the recurrence of incidents between the two countries such as those over the Leila/Toura islet in July 2002 is "unthinkable."

In the wake of his socialist party's victory in the general elections, Zapatero vowed "preferential relations' with the north African country.

"Morocco demands and deserves preferential treatment and relations that are tailored to bringing about very close ties. That is what I shall say to the Moroccan authorities during my visit in the coming days," he had asserted.

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