Monday, May 30, 2022 at 11:47 PM
Rabat – Operation Marhaba is a unique model of bilateral and regional coordination between Morocco and several countries, said Monday in Rabat, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Nasser Bourita .
Responding to a question on “the preparations for Operation Marhaba 2022 and the improvement of consular services and their rapprochement with Moroccans around the world”, posed during an oral question session at the House of Representatives, Mr. Bourita affirmed that all the actors concerned are mobilized in order to facilitate administrative procedures at transit points and improve services on board ships and planes and at the level of the routes taken by MREs, ensuring that Operation Marhaba constitutes a model of good cooperation between Morocco and Spain.
“This operation testifies to the indelible attachment of Moroccans living abroad to their Motherland, as it allows nearly three million Moroccan nationals to return to the country each year to visit their relatives,” he underlined.
Operation Marhaba, he added, constitutes “a unique logistical, organizational and security challenge at the level of Europe, Africa and the Mediterranean, which may not be similar elsewhere in the world”, noting that this is also a peak period for consular work which requires strengthening the human, material and organizational resources of the Kingdom’s consular network.
The Marhaba operation also represents an important economic bet through its contribution to the promotion of the tourism and hotel sector and to the economic fabric in general, not only in Morocco, but in all the transit countries, the minister pointed out.
In this regard, Mr. Bourita pointed out that the Marhaba 2022 operation takes place in a particular context, given that it is the first of its kind to take place after the significant improvement in the health situation linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, and after two years of limited transit due to pandemic-related restrictive measures.
This year’s Operation Marhaba also coincides with the implementation of the roadmap announced in the Moroccan-Spanish Joint Declaration following the reception by His Majesty King Mohammed VI of the President of the Spanish Government on April 07, 2022 , and which began a new stage in the Moroccan-Spanish partnership, while emphasizing the resumption of maritime links for travelers and the launch of joint preparations for Operation Marhaba.