The head of the Spanish diplomacy reaffirmed his country's support to the efforts of the UN chief Ban Ki-moon's Personal Envoy for the Sahara, Christopher Ross, adding that the resolution of this dispute will help the integration of Maghreb countries.
"We hope to achieve a real integration between Maghreb countries," he said before the New Economy Forum in Madrid, a discussion platform in Spain.
The minister said the Sahara issue is one of the priorities of the foreign policy and diplomacy of Spain, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU).
“The Sahara issue has always been one of the concerns of the Spanish diplomacy and we have good cooperation with France and the United States” in this regard, he added before an audience consisting of politicians, business people, directors and journalists from the Spanish and foreign media, in addition to representatives of civil society.
Regarding the recent informal meeting on the Sahara, the Spanish minister said that “these talks were not as negative as suggested in the media, as reflected by the decision of the parties to hold other informal meetings and the announcement of a forthcoming visit of Christopher Ross to the region,” he added.
The second informal meeting, organized under the auspices of Christopher Ross, was held last Wednesday and Thursday in Armonk in the outskirts of New York. Following this meeting, the UN mediator said that he will soon visit the region to “consult further with the parties” following their commitment “to continue negotiations as soon as possible.”
Source: MAP
News and events concerning Western Sahara issue/ Corcas