Spain, Britain to resume talks on disputed Gibraltar

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Thursday that his country will resume talks with Britain on the future of Gibraltar, the disputed British colony on the south coast of Spain.

The foreign minister said he will soon travel to London to meet with his British counterpart, Jack Straw, with whom he will analyze the status of the dialogue between the two countries.

Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain nearly 300 years ago and has been trying to get it back ever since.

The new government hopes to boost the talks, as Spain's former Conservative government did, on the Context of Brussels, which foresees shared British-Spanish sovereignty but was overwhelminglyrejected in Gibraltar's 2002 referendum.

Moratinos, whose Socialist party surprisingly won the March elections, had said the idea of shared sovereignty was still a possibility.

Moratinos and Straw had voiced their willingness to resume talks on Gibraltar during a meeting of EU ministers in April in Luxembourg.

Source: Xinhua