During a joint press briefing with Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad Nasser Bourita, González Laya said that the choice of Rabat to make her first visit abroad after her appointment as minister of foreign affairs is no coincidence, given the "deep and strategic" relations between the two neighboring countries.

She emphasized the importance of bilateral economic cooperation, given that a third of Spanish investment in Africa is located in Morocco, which is also the second non-EU economic partner of the Iberian country, while Spain is Morocco's top trading partner.

According to the Spanish official, her meeting with Bourita was an opportunity to underline the shared points of view of the two countries on different matters, expressing the wish of the Spanish government to enhance bilateral ties as part of the visit made to Morocco in February 2019 by HM King Felipe VI.

"Morocco is a zone of stability in an unstable region," noted the Spanish minister, who welcomed the reforms launched by the Kingdom in various fields.

Strengthening ties with Morocco is a smart and mutually beneficial choice for Spain, she said, underscoring the need to explore new areas of cooperation, mainly education, culture, science and technology.

Highlighting the collaboration between the two countries in the fight against terrorism and illegal migration, she said that the two parties agreed to hold the Morocco-Spain high-level meeting as soon as possible, in order to carry out the initiatives that were examined during this meeting.

In addition, she underlined the will of the two countries to deepen their cooperation within the European Union, with the aim of giving more visibility to the southern neighborhood of Europe, a cooperation which must be reflected in a new specific and singular relation between Rabat and Brussels.

She also said that the two countries are determined to foster their cooperation in the fight against climate change, stressing the importance of strengthening collaboration between Rabat and Madrid at the level of the Mediterranean, Africa and the Sahel regions.