Spain and Morocco to re-open border posts in Ceuta and Melilla

The Spanish minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, and his Moroccan counterpart, Naser Burita, agreed on Wednesday, 21 September, that the customs posts in Melilla and Ceuta (where a new one will be installed) will open “during January”.

An announcement was made by the two men from New York where they were attending the UN General Assembly. "We have agreed to work together so that the orderly and gradual start of the passage of goods through the land customs posts will take place during the month of January," Albares said.

For his part, Burita confirmed Morocco's intention to comply with what was agreed in the declaration of 7 April signed by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and King Mohammed VI, which provided for the opening of the border crossings.

Burita said that the two countries would work towards “a return to normality” in terms of the passage of people and goods through land and sea posts, and he hoped that the necessary “mechanisms” would be in place “from the beginning of the year in the framework of frank cooperation between two partners and friends”.