UN : Europe-Africa permanent link project, intercontinental "hub", thanks to its position as gateway to Mediterranean

"At the transcontinental and the Mediterranean Basin, the project will be a strong and sustainable link for transport systems. It will be an intercontinental "hub", thanks to its position as a gateway to the Mediterranean," said a UN report which discusses the geo-strategic aspect of the project.

This project is expected to increase the development opportunities by becoming a global first class logistics platform through integrating trans-European and Maghreb transport networks, according to the document addressed by the Secretary General of the UN to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which is regularly informed on the evolution of the studies on this project.

ECOSOC has shown interest in this project since the decision by the governments of Morocco and Spain as part of a bilateral cooperation agreement in 1980 to examine its feasibility.

For the UN, this view (logistics platform) is "consistent with the major policy goals of Euro-Mediterranean transport through various cooperation programs, including the Regional Transport Action Plan, spread over the period 2007-2013, which was approved in Brussels in 2007 by the Euro-Mediterranean Transport Forum, and the program of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), which highlighted the importance of the development of transport in the region."

The fixed link brings "added value to the region's port infrastructure, and can boost local development" and serve as a "catalyst for growth of the Moroccan economy, of which Spain could benefit if strategic support measures are considered.