Spain's new prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, was to seek to deepen bilateral cooperation, particularly in the context of dealing with immigration issues and fighting terrorism, when he visited Morocco yesterday on his first foreign trip since taking office.
Socialist Zapatero, the surprise winner of a March 14 general election which followed in the wake of the Madrid train bombings believed the work of Moroccan extremists and which killed 191 people, would hold talks with King Mohamed VI and Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou in Casablanca.
The city was itself the target of a bomb blast last May in which 45 people were killed, including four Spaniards and 12 suicide bombers.
Spanish authorities believe the Madrid bombers had links to the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (GICM) deemed to be behind the earlier attack.
In an interview with Friday's edition of El Mundo daily, Zapatero called for "respect and dialogue" with Spain's southern neighbor, the two nations separated by the narrow Strait of Gibraltar but brought together by the pressing issues of terrorism and immigration to Europe via Morocco.
Ties between the two countries were strained under Zapatero's conservative predecessor Jose Maria Aznar and the summer of 2002 saw a spat over a small disputed island -- Perejil in Spanish and known to Moroccans as Leila.
US mediation helped resolve that standoff but Zapatero said he did not want outside involvement getting between Madrid and Rabat in future dealings between the two governments.
The longer-standing confrontation over the status of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara, to which Morocco has a longstanding claim, is likely not to feature in Zapatero's five-and-a-half-hour visit yesterday, with Spain hoping Morocco will accept a UN-brokered settlement.
The Spanish north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are also unlikely to be discussed.
"In principle, Ceuta and Melilla are not a problem and aside from occasional affirmations Morocco respects ... Spain on this issue," according to Zapatero.
In choosing Morocco as his first foreign destination as prime minister Zapatero is not only carrying on a recent Spanish tradition but showing Rabat that Spain wants to deepen ties and recognize that the links between them are of strategic importance for Afro-European relations as a whole.
First deputy prime minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the meeting would be a coming together of nations whose relations had often consisted of "reproach and unnecessary tension."
Zapatero and King Mohamed had a lengthy telephone conversation days after the former's election success in which the Moroccan monarch congratulated the Spanish leader on his win and passed on condolences for the March 11 attacks, the worst terrorist outrage Spain has known.
Earlier this week, the king also said he hoped to see "the inauguration of a new era" in bilateral relations during a conversation with Spain's King Juan Carlos.
In his interview with El Mundo, Zapatero said "given that the economic and democratic development of Morocco is in our interest," it was "fundamental" for Spain to give its north African neighbor economic and commercial help, investment and political cooperation.
While in Casablanca Zapatero will inaugurate a commemorative plaque to the victims of last May's blasts in the city.
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