Commercial customs between the cities of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco is now a reality.

In the case of Ceuta, this opening represents something unprecedented to date and represents a milestone in the relationship between the two countries.

Although Foreign Affairs maintains that it is a pilot test, a first van from the Ceuta company

Almacenes Bentolila

has left the historical image of the day when it crossed the newly created customs crossing loaded with merchandise.

In Melilla, merchandise entry operations have also begun after

more than four years closed

by a unilateral decision of Morocco.

This is the first

pilot experience

in which the weaknesses and strengths of the new customs office will be seen.

In Melilla, the first truck that intended to enter the reopening also traveled to Morocco without incident.

As confirmed by Foreign Affairs, which has sent a team to Ceuta to verify the development of the operation

in situ

, "on Friday morning a first commercial expedition left to, experimentally, test on the ground the response capacity of the two The High-Level Meeting to be held in Rabat on

February 1 and 2

will be a good time to present the results of today's pilot test, based on which a calendar will be designed that allows trade between the two countries with all the guarantees".

The first step to achieve the normalization of what is required between the border relations between two countries that have to be understood was taken on Friday morning with the shipment of

personal hygiene items

to Morocco , which will be followed by others that will gradually incorporate a increased complexity to ensure that the two customs are fully operational in the shortest possible time.

For the Government delegate in Ceuta, who was surrounded by his team at the border supervising the departure, "this test will determine the needs in terms of infrastructure for the implementation of precise controls and for the deployment of the necessary personnel with which to give the adequate response to the users of this customs office that today has begun its journey".

For Foreign Affairs, the step taken fulfills an "important milestone on the roadmap that Spain and Morocco sealed on

April 7 of

last year."

In a few days the High Level Meeting between the governments of Spain and Morocco will be held, in which the new bilateral relations between the two kingdoms will be determined, and which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain considers an opportunity to address Crucial issues for the interests of both countries and to settle the diplomatic crisis caused by Morocco's anger after the Spanish government allowed the leader of

the Polisario Front

to enter Spain to treat

the

condition of Covid that he suffered.

The issues that the large delegation that the Spanish government will send to Rabat -headed by its president- will put on the table will be

political and strategic issues

that affect the interests of the Spanish state.

For example, security and economic cooperation, as well as the regional association between both sides of the Strait.

For the Government of Spain, Morocco is a priority partner not only in economic matters, as it is the country with the most Spanish investment in North Africa, but it is essential in the fight against

international terrorism

and in

immigration control

at the borders Moroccans with Ceuta and Melilla and in the maritime line of the Strait of Gibraltar.

One of the strong points of normality in the new relations with Morocco after the signing of the Rabat agreement laid out the bases of the relations in 7 points signed after the visit of Pedro Sánchez last year.

In it, both governments announced that "the full normalization of the movement of people and goods" would be restored "in an orderly manner, including the appropriate customs and people control devices at land and sea levels."

This implies the opening of customs that will allow the traffic of goods between the two countries legally, as announced by Minister Albares last week: the commercial customs of Ceuta and Melilla with the Alaouite country will open before the celebration of the Hispanic summit -Moroccan.

No sooner said than done.

On Friday morning it was possible to see the first van loaded with merchandise crossing the new customs post installed for this purpose in

El Tarajal

.

At noon, a delegation of authorities accompanied the Government delegate in the autonomous city,

Rafael García

, to the Tarajal border facilities where they were going to check first-hand the crossing of the first van.

Half an hour later, the van crossed the Spanish side to carry out customs procedures and thus be able to go to the Moroccan zone.

The delegation has not summoned the media for this historic event for fear that Morocco would reject the entry of merchandise at the last minute.

Finally, late in the afternoon and after solving some last-minute bureaucratic issue that affected the driver, the van loaded with hygienic products from Ceuta managed to enter Morocco.

The negotiation with the Moroccan authorities for this new opening has not been easy.

Sources familiar with it told this medium that Morocco was not in the business of giving free rein to merchandise from Ceuta.

They had to have Spain's commitment not to try to pass

food and textile products

.

The same sources confirm that the insistence on the part of the Spanish negotiators to allow some of the products that Morocco vetoed to pass jeopardized the opening of customs.

After Spain's commitment, in the end the Moroccan customs authorities gave the go-ahead for the van to pass.

The social and economic agents of Ceuta welcome the opening with reserve.

The autonomous government of Ceuta is confident that the agreement will be beneficial for the local economy.

As this medium has learned, there is a company from Ceuta dedicated to the manufacture of chocolate that has also made an attempt to be able to pass merchandise to Morocco.

At the moment it will not be authorized for export from Ceuta through the Tarajal.

These are specifically businesses that export products from Ceuta to the Alaouite country using the port of

Tanger Med

and that would now see it as viable to be able to distribute their merchandise in the part closest to the autonomous city in the north, as was done before with the carriage of merchandise. who entered through the border from the uncontrolled industrial estates of Ceuta, giving the appearance of a Third World border when seeing thousands of people, the majority of them women, who carried packages on their backs daily.

In October 2019, Morocco decided to put an end to these practices that they considered contraband and closed the passage to these goods that, according to the Moroccan customs authorities, harmed the national product.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Morocco

  • Ceuta

  • Government of Spain

  • Melilla