Sanchez speaks during the Spanish Algero Economic Forum in Algiers in 2020 [Getty]
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will travel to Algeria next week for an official visit aimed at ending years of tensions between the two countries over the Western Sahara dispute, his office said on Monday.
The visit on 20 July will be Sanchez’s first trip to Algeria since relations deteriorated in 2022 after Madrid shifted its longstanding position of neutrality on Western Sahara and backed Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed territory.
Spain’s move was part of a diplomatic rapprochement with Morocco, ending its decades of ambiguity on the issue but angering Algeria, which supports the pro-independence Polisario Front, which opposes Rabat’s claim over the former Spanish colony.
Western Sahara, a mineral-rich desert territory with significant phosphate reserves and fishing resources, was controlled by Spain until 1975.
Morocco now controls most of the territory but the United Nations considers it a non-self-governing territory pending a final settlement.
In response to the policy shift in Madrid, Algeria suspended a 2002 friendship treaty with Spain and restricted trade ties between the two countries.
Relations have gradually improved since 2024, with commercial exchanges beginning to recover.
