The Minister of Foreign Affairs (MNE) said this Saturday that Portugal is working to hold a summit with Morocco “at the end of the year”, in which the creation of a maritime connection between the two countries will be on the table.
João Gomes Cravinho attended, in the Algarve, the inauguration of the Loulé Islamic Baths complex and the Barretos manor house, in the historic center of the Algarve city, and highlighted the importance of the past in deepening relations between the two countries, in the presence of the Moroccan ambassador to Portugal, Othmane Bahnini.
“Our goal is to hold a summit between Portugal and Morocco at the end of this year and that [a ligação marítima] It will be one of the big issues,” the minister told reporters at the end of the inauguration, stressing that there are still “a set of factors that must be taken into account” for the project to move forward.
Among these factors, the official identified, are “the creation of a maritime border” that “must be agreed with the Ministry of the Interior” or “the connections”, which “are generally ensured by private agents and must also be involved in the discussion ”.
“But the Governments of Portugal and Morocco agree on the convenience, and we think that in the coming months we will be able to assemble and assemble all the elements to create this maritime crossing between Portugal and Morocco,” he added.
The same source acknowledged that this project “is a sure priority”, but stressed that “it is not unique”, because the relationship between the two countries “is rich and varied”, admitting that Portimão has been a talked about place for the installation. of this maritime connection project with Morocco, but stressed that “there are several possibilities and in this sense the private operators also have to give their opinion”.
Regarding the inauguration of the Islamic Baths of Loulé, João Gomes Cravinho said that it was “of tremendous importance, because the past is a prologue to the present and the future”, because the building demonstrates “the intensity of interaction” that Portugal has “over international level”.
“What we are today as Portuguese, what our identity is, is made up of an interaction over the centuries with other peoples, and this is an excellent basis for our contemporary and future relationship with other countries, and in particular with Morocco. ” he said.
João Gomes Cravinho considered that Morocco “is an intrinsic part” of the “Portuguese identity”, just as Portugal is an “intrinsic part of the Moroccan identity”, and stressed that “it is enough to see the enormous number of traces of the Portuguese presence throughout of the coast”. Moroccan to see this.”
“As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I highly value this inauguration of the Islamic Baths in Loulé, and I want to congratulate the mayor, who understood the importance and relevance of this moment in multiple ways, whether culturally, touristically, but also in terms of of our external relationship”, praised the government official.
The minister also added that Portugal and Morocco are working to “create an agreement for the permanence and stay of Moroccans in Portugal” that allows “the creation of legal, legitimate mechanisms that facilitate the arrival of Moroccans in Portugal” and “facilitate also the reverse direction” the departure of the Portuguese to Morocco.
Source: Observadora
