Spain for realistic solution to Sahara issue

Spain on Thursday said it backs a "realistic and lasting" solution to the Sahara issue.

"We share France's standpoint for a realistic and lasting solution" of the Sahara issue," said Spanish Foreign Minister, Ana Palacio, who represented her country at the 5"5 dialogue forum that wound up this Thursday in Sainte-Maxime.

Spain is the former colonial power of the Sahara that Morocco retrieved in 1975 under tripartite accords with Spain and Mauritania.

Palacio, who was interviewed by MAP news agency, was referring to a call made by French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, at the opening session of the Saint-Maxime encounter, for "a realistic and lasting settlement" to the Sahara issue.

"I call for seeking such a settlement now in order to open a new page in the history of the Maghreb with Europe as friendly neighbor," De Villepin told his peers from 10 northern and southern Mediterranean countries.

For the head of the Spanish diplomacy, the Sahara issue "is a question underlying some south-south relations." She added that the problem should be handled in frankness and settled realistically and lastingly."

She announced a meeting with the Moroccan delegation to the United Nations "to discuss and listen to the standpoint of the Moroccan government regarding the latest proposals made by James Baker," Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General for the Sahara.