Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlasca set next June for a decisive meeting that will see Moroccan and Spain officials resume negotiations on maritime waters delimitation.
Discussions over the thorny issue of waters delimitation that has long-strained relations between Morocco and Spain will be led by Morocco’s Nasser Bourita and Spanish Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Albares.
“This stage will be the main challenge in the negotiations, as it includes the waters of the Moroccan Sahara,” El Pais newspaper wrote.
The two ministers will lead talks with a joint committee on maritime delimitation that has not been met for 15 years.
Maritime delimitation is essentially ‘the body of rules that regulates the drawing of boundaries between the overlapping maritime entitlements of neighboring coastal States,” according to expert definitions.
Maritime delimitations between Spain and Morocco are confounded by the several exogenous circumstances, namely sovereignty issues that hinder delimitation both on the hydrocarbon and fisheries-rich the Alboran Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
On Morocco’s northern coastline, Both Kingdoms claim sovereignty over Ceuta, Melilla, Vélez de la Gomera, Alhucemas, and the Chafarinas Islands.
In the Atlantic Ocean, sovereignty issues also emerge as the primary factor in hindering maritime delimitation between Spain and Morocco, namely Western Sahara.
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