Santa Cruz de Tenerife (EFE).-The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has assured that the solution to the conflict in Western Sahara does not correspond to Spain but to the UN, whose representative in the area supports with all the possible means.
Albares, in statements to Cadena Ser in the Canary Islands about the position of the Government of Spain on the Sahara, ratified this week at the High Level Meeting held with Morocco, has stated that this conflict has been stuck for 50 years, and he would not like followed him for half a century.
It is not up to Spain to provide the solution, but to the UN, said Albares, who stated that he has met on several occasions with the special representative of the Secretary General for Western Sahara, to whom he has offered all the means, including the diplomats.
The minister has assured that the delimitation of the territorial waters between Spain and Morocco will be done in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Sea and has insisted that after the RAN, a new era of mutual benefit and without unilateral decisions.
Albares recalled that there is a working group for this matter in which the Government of the Canary Islands is represented and has asserted that “the protection of the rights” of the islands is a priority for his department.
In his opinion, the RAN has meant a before and after in relations between Morocco and Spain and has insisted that this improvement in relations benefits everyone, but especially the Canary Islands, not only in aspects such as immigration flows or the fight against jihadism but in social and economic aspects.
He has indicated that there are 1,100 Spanish companies in Morocco, many of them from the Canary Islands, and a potential market of 45,000 million euros has been calculated for the islands in areas such as agriculture, water or sanitation.
From now on, relations between the two countries will be based on mutual respect, in the absence of unilateral decisions and in the face of any discrepancies, dialogue will prevail, the minister asserted.
He added that for Spain, Morocco is a strategic partner and has ensured that after this meeting, the crisis that had plagued relations between the two countries, which are, he added, “essential” for each other, ends. EFE