The European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex and Morocco have decided to strengthen their cooperation in the field of border management.
In a statement issued on October 27, the agency revealed that a meeting was held on the same day between the executive director of Frontex, ai Aija Kalnaja, and the director general of Morocco’s interior ministry, Wali Khalid. Zerouali, to renew the partnership between both sides, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“This meeting was the third in a series of annual discussions between Frontex senior management and the Moroccan interior ministry within the framework of the Frontex-Morocco joint committee,” read the statement.
In this regard, Director Kalnaja stressed that Frontex recognizes the extraordinary efforts made by the Moroccan authorities to deal with the flow of human smuggling, trafficking and other types of cross-border crime.
“These actions undoubtedly contribute to the security of the European Union. We are committed to further strengthening our partnership with Morocco as a reliable and credible partner so that we can meet these challenges together,” he also noted.
Throughout the meeting, Director Kalnaja said that together with its Moroccan partners, Frontex will work on the implementation of a common roadmap, which included activities in the field of guard cooperation, risk analysis and treatment of human trafficking.
Recently, a network that was included in the falsification of documents used to obtain visas was destroyed by the Moroccan authorities. While in the first half of 2022, around 26,000 irregular border crossings were interrupted, of which a tenth were saved at sea.
Previously, in order to fight against illegal immigration in Morocco, the European Commission has declared its readiness to continue strengthening joint cooperation with Morocco.
According to the European Commission, in order to renew the partnership in the fight against irregular border crossings, Spain and Morocco have agreed to promote their better cooperation. Through this partnership, the countries are focusing more on tackling human trafficking networks, including those involved in the June 24 trafficking, when 23 African men died at the Melilla-Morocco border.
End of September, seven people suspected of defrauding Schengen visa applicants were also arrested in the city of Fez in central Morocco.
In August, Morocco also arrested six other people for involvement in Schengen visa falsification activities, including two women and linked to a network involved in Schengen visa falsification that facilitated illegal immigration.
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