The Spanish Post (Correos de España) and its Moroccan counterpart (Poste Maroc) signed a reciprocal agreement yesterday to set up an electronic money transfer service.
This comes in the wake of a similar agreement signed by the Chilean, Spanish and Uruguayan Posts last week (see UPU News, 28 July 2008).
José Damián SANTIAGO MARTÍN, CEO of Correos de España, and Anass ALAMI, Director General of Poste Maroc, announced that a service was being launched between the two countries, at a brief ceremony during the 24th Universal Postal Congress.
This service will be available at about 1,000 post offices in Morocco and 2,300 in Spain.
Around half a million Moroccan nationals live in Spain, said ALAMI.
In 2007, it is believed that Moroccans living in Europe sent around 4.8 billion EUR back to their country of origin. That figure was bound to rise considerably over the coming years, said Poste Maroc's Director General, adding that he was very happy to be signing the agreement with Spain.
SANTIAGO MARTÍN said: "By launching this service with Morocco, Spain is meeting its obligation to make money transfers easier and cheaper for Moroccans working in our country. After all, their contribution to Spain's economic development effectively means they are Spanish. I am sure this new service will be a resounding success."
This accord follows on from the successful cooperation agreement signed between the UPU and the Spanish Government in December 2007. Its aim was that Spain would facilitate money transfers with Latin America and North African countries via the UPU's international financial network. A goal that has been achieved in less than seven months.
This launch of exchanges between Spain and Morocco could pave the way for similar services in other North African countries.