Spain’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Trade, and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, on Monday underscored the importance of the Moroccan market for Spanish companies, noting that their exports to Morocco exceed €12 billion, a figure only slightly below exports to the United States, which stand at around €16 billion.
«We are talking about €12 billion compared with €16 billion. This gives us a sense of how important our companies’ relationship with the Moroccan economy is and, therefore, of the need to continue developing, in this case, a policy that helps further strengthen the presence of Spanish products and companies in an important market», the minister said, according to Europa Press.
In a media statement, he declined to speculate on what measures Spain might take if the government obtains evidence proving that Morocco was behind the mass entry of irregular migrants into Ceuta at the end of July, preferring instead to emphasize the importance of economic and trade relations between the two countries.
He made clear, however, that this «does not prevent» progress from continuing in the investigation into the reasons behind the mass entry of irregular migrants into Ceuta, saying the issue is, among other things, about «providing all the necessary means to ensure that» what happened is not repeated.
«That is the objective, and therefore, once that evidence is available, the measures must, of course, be firm because this is the message we want to send to the people of Ceuta», the minister said.
Cuerpo added: «We have relations with our counterparts at the trade, economic, and financial levels, and that relationship must be based on the principle of reciprocity, because that is what we expect».