Rabat (EFE) Tarfaya and Fuerteventura, closed in 2008.
Speaking to journalists at the Spanish Embassy in Rabat during his first day of visit to Morocco, Torres advanced that it has been agreed with the Moroccan government that the Binter company will operate three new connections between the archipelago and the Moroccan cities of Tangier from July , Essaouira and Agadir.
He also indicated that the recovery of the maritime line between Tarfaya and Fuerteventura, closed in 2008 after a ship ran aground at the exit of the Moroccan coastal town, has been “put on the table”.
In this sense, he highlighted the “commitment of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Government of the Canary Islands to reactivate it” and explained that there are Canarian companies interested in operating it, which would allow it to start up “as soon as possible”.
“There is a will” to resume it, insisted Torres, who recalled that a tender was presented with Moroccan companies to do so and it was left deserted and now it has been opened so that companies that are not from that country can operate the line.
The Canarian Government, he added, is willing to look for subsidy lines so that it can be a reality.
“In other years this was unthinkable because relations were complicated,” said the Canarian president after highlighting that his visit to Morocco takes place when these relations are “good”, once the bilateral crisis that ended a year ago with the turn of Spain supporting Morocco in the territory of Western Sahara.
“When relations between the two governments are good, that is good for the Canary Islands; when they are not good, the Canary Islands are one of the most affected places ”, he affirmed.
Proof of this is that, according to Torres, in the first months of this year the migratory flow to the Canary Islands has decreased by 60% compared to the same period in 2022.
Torres today began his two-day visit to Morocco in Rabat with meetings with the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Naser Burita; the President of the Moroccan Government, Aziz Ajanuch; the president of the House of Representatives (lower house), Rachid Talbi, and the Minister of Transport and Logistics, Mohamed Abdeljalil.
He is accompanied by the Ministers of Economy, Knowledge and Employment, Elena Máñez, and of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning, José Antonio Valbuena, who met in Rabat with their Moroccan counterpart ministers.
Also from various deputy councilors and businessmen from the islands from sectors such as the naval, agri-food, real estate, information technology or chemical industry, in a visit focused on the economic and business aspect and the institutional agenda.
This Thursday he will travel to Casablanca to attend a Canarian-Moroccan business event organized by the Moroccan employers’ association and by the Morocco-Spain Economic Council. EFE