Madrid pledges to secure Moroccan goods transit via Spain

The Spanish government will take all necessary security measures to secure transit of Moroccan exports via Spain, said Spanish minister of the interior, Jaime Mayor Oreja.

Oreja said at a joint news conference with his Moroccan peer, Ahmed El Midaoui, here Tuesday, that Spain will take maximum measures to guarantee a normal, secured transit of Moroccan goods via the Spanish territory and will firmly respond in case of conflict to preserve public order.

Associations of Andalucian seamen and ship-owners as well as trade unions have threatened to tighten control on Moroccan goods as of next February 2 in case Morocco and the European union fail to conclude a new fishery agreement. They said the move is meant to pressure for the conclusion of a new accord.

The latest fisheries accord between Morocco and the European Union expired on November 30, 1999. Several rounds of negotiations on the renewal of the accord were held since last September but no agreement was reached so far. Morocco insists on the need to preserve its sea resources, seeks to reduce the accord duration and the number of fishing licenses, and wants the European trawlers' catches to be unloaded in Moroccan ports.

Oreja, who said that Spain will take all necessary measures to secure the transit of Moroccan goods, pointed out however that no country in the world can guarantee security one hundred per cent.

Tons of Moroccan goods transit daily via Spain on their route to other European countries. Some sixty tons of Moroccan fish transit daily via the Spanish southern port of Algesiras alone.