Spain should contribute to containing illegal emigration, PSOE leader
Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist labor Party (PSOE), Jos? Rodriguez Zapatero, said here Tuesday Spain should contribute efficiently to contain illegal emigration to enable Morocco control the phenomenon.
Zapatero, on a visit to Morocco at the invitation of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), stressed the need to work to regulate emigration so that it takes place in a legal framework. He said he noted that Moroccan authorities were fully willing to ponder on the issue.
He said at a joint news conference with Moroccan Premier and USFP first Secretary, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, that he had thoroughly examined with Moroccan officials the illegal emigration phenomenon and that the scope of Moroccan-Spanish cooperation in this field was very large.
Touching on the issue of fisheries, the PSOE secretary general underlined the usefulness of a fishery agreement between Morocco and Spain, privileging however a partial rather than a general agreement. He said his Moroccan interlocutors showed understanding for his proposals.
Zapatero stressed the need to promote dialogue as the best means to settle pending problems and issues and to restore the climate of trust between the two countries.
Moroccan-Spanish relations grew strained in view of Spain's hostile stands towards Morocco and its vital supreme interests, leading Morocco to recall last October its ambassador to Spain for consultation. Morocco made the decision after a series of practices that accumulated since the breakdown last April of Moroccan-European Union negotiations on fisheries. Part of these practices, Spain threatened to freeze financial and economic assistance to Morocco, called the EU to enforce sanctions on Morocco, adopted a hostile discourse against Morocco in the issue of illegal migration, denigrated Morocco's institutions and tried to make an amalgam with terrorism.
Spain's anti-Moroccan stands have also affected the issue of Morocco's territorial integrity.
Zapatero, who called for intensifying diplomatic contacts to favor joint action and understanding between the two countries, underlined the importance of Morocco which must hold, he said, a prominent place in Spain's diplomatic activities.
The PSOE Secretary General, who arrived in Rabat Sunday, on a two-day visit to Morocco at the invitation of the USFP, was received Tuesday afternoon by King Mohammed VI and conferred with several Moroccan officials.
