The Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Isabel Goicoechea, and the Director of Migration and Border Surveillance of Morocco, Khalid Zerouali, chaired this Thursday in Rabat the meeting of the Mixed Hispano-Moroccan Commission for the preparation of Operation Marhaba-2022.
The Rabat meeting finalized the details of the Special Civil Protection Plan for OPE 2022, which will be put together in the coming weeks, and in which all the aspects necessary for the development of the system will be collected, with particular attention this year to controls health derived from the impact of Covid 19.
For the Spanish Under-Secretary, “Operation Marhaba 2022 is an example of good coordination between neighboring countries”, and this Thursday’s meeting “is part of the process of implementing the roadmap drawn up during the meeting held last April by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the King, Mohammed VI”.
16,000 National Police and Civil Guard officers
The meeting analyzed, among other things, operational arrangements that the two countries are going to put in place to guarantee the development of Operation Marhaba-2022, and which will be similar to those established in 2019. In this sense, Spain will put in place places a security device for this edition which will have 15,995 agents from the National Police and the Civil Guard.
The measures adopted between Spain and Morocco revolve around various factors, including the fluidity and safety of transit, assistance to travelers and prevention and protection of public health.
On the occasion of this same meeting, the fleet plans to be implemented to guarantee an adequate supply for the daily traffic of passengers and vehicles were shared, and the reinforcements of the workforce to be mobilized in the ports to guarantee the transit , both from Europe to Africa and vice versa, discussed.
Finally, the two countries agreed to strengthen and coordinate information exchange channels to continue working on aspects such as management in the busiest days, the possibility of exchanging tickets and other conditions. sea crossings.
The largest European device
The Marhaba2022 operation, highlighted Isabel Goicoechea, constitutes a logistical and security challenge, with the displacement by sea of more than three million people and more than seven hundred thousand vehicles over a period of three months. “It is the largest European device of these characteristics and one of the largest in the world,” she said.
She also mentioned the bilateral cooperation which has made it possible to successfully tackle Operation Marhaba since 1986, being “the result of a fine job of preparation by our technical teams”.
It should be noted that the meeting took place in the presence of Leonardo Marcos, general director of civil protection and emergencies, Pere Navarro, general director of traffic, and José Antonio Rodríguez, general director of coordination and studies.
Also present on behalf of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda were Benito Núñez, General Director of the Merchant Navy, and Álvaro Rodríguez, President of State Ports, Fernando Carreras, Deputy General Director of foreign health, from the Ministry of Health, and José Antonio Pacheco, sub-delegate of the government in Cádiz.
Meeting of the Standing Group on Migration
As a reminder, Rabat will host Friday the 20th meeting of the Hispano-Moroccan Permanent Group on Migration, co-chaired by Jesús Javier Perea, Secretary of State for Migration, and the Director of Migration and Border Surveillance of Morocco, Khalid Zerouali.
The meeting, which will also be attended by the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ángeles Moreno, will discuss bilateral collaboration in the management of migratory flows.
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