Illegal migration was at the heart of a meeting that brought Felipe VI and King Mohammed VI together. The King of Spain, urged the Moroccan authorities to double their efforts on the issue. On Thursday, February the 14th, at the National Library in Rabat, King Felipe VI delivered a speech before the Spanish community living in Morocco. During his speech, the Spanish monarch hailed the «precious» and «fruitful» cooperation between Rabat and Madrid in the fight against illegal migration. On Wednesday, «diplomatic sources» told Spanish daily El Pais that Felipe VI thanked King Mohammed VI for the «efforts made by his country to manage borders with Spain, but asked him to strengthen collaboration to curb the number of illegal migrants entering the Iberian country». The Spanish authorities have asked their Moroccan counterparts to «go ahead» and boost bilateral ties to deal with the problem. The Spanish newspaper recalled that Morocco deploys 13,000 members of its defense forces near the borders with Spain. Following Pedro Sanchez' footsteps The question was also at the heart of King Felipe VI's speech, delivered Thursday at the headquarters of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Rabat. The monarch seized the opportunity to urge both the Moroccan and Spanish governments to «keep strengthening» their cooperation on «migration management». He stressed that the two countries must deal with the «sufferings of the people who lost their loved ones because of human trafficking». King Felipe VI said that cooperation established between Madrid and Spain is «recognized by regional partners and neighboring governments». Focusing on the same topic, Felipe VI followed the footsteps of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. While visiting Morocco in November, 2018, Sanchez asked the Moroccan authorities to try to decrease the number of illegal migrants entering Spain in 2019. For the record, Spain and Morocco signed 11 agreements during the visit of King Felipe which lasted for two days. These agreements covered a series of sectors, including cooperation in the fight against crime. The latter was signed by the interior ministers of the two countries, Abdelouafi Laftit and Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gomez.
