Friday, May 24, 2024 at 11:20 p.m.
Rabat – The African policy of His Majesty King Mohammed VI is a policy of belonging and initiative, resolutely Afro-optimistic, human-centered and focused on African responses to Africa’s challenges, said Friday in Rabat, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans living abroad, Nasser Bourita.
“If His Majesty King Mohammed VI has placed Africa at the heart of Morocco’s international priorities, it is also because the Sovereign deeply believes in Africa,” underlined Mr. Bourita who spoke on the occasion of Africa Day, organized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad.
Highlighting “the markers of the African Vision of His Majesty the King”, he observed that “where some speak of despair in Africa, the Sovereign detects potential. Where some opt for easy solutions, His Majesty the King recommends fundamental treatments to develop lasting solutions. And where many see problems, His Majesty the King sees opportunities.”
The minister, in this sense, explained that Morocco’s Afro-optimism is also an Afro-pragmatism, based on the objective observation that the Continent is equipped to emerge as one of the major poles of global growth, ensuring that Africa will succeed.
Mr. Bourita recalled the speech given by His Majesty the King at the 27th Summit of the African Union in which the Sovereign stressed that “Africa, so long neglected, has become essential. The era when it was only an object in international relations is over. It asserts itself, progresses and assumes responsibility on the international scene. She now presents herself as an active and respected interlocutor in the debate on global governance.”
On the other hand, the Royal Vision for Morocco’s African policy is based on confidence in South-South cooperation, continued the minister, emphasizing the need for African responses to African challenges. “Indeed, for His Majesty the King, the emergence of Africa depends on its ability to take control of its destiny and provide its own, adapted, innovative and creative responses to its challenges, designed by Africans for Africans. ”, he argued.
The minister, in this context, underlined that this Royal Vision gives pride of place to the principle of South-South co-development, united and sustainable, and to inter-African cooperation, recalling that it is with Africa that the Morocco has the densest conventional network.
This network, he added, is based on more than 1,500 cooperation instruments, linking the Kingdom to more than 80% of African countries, covering areas as varied as higher education, executive training, health, infrastructure, renewable energies, sanitation and drinking water.
It is also in brotherly African countries, in the four corners of the Continent, that the major socio-economic projects launched by His Majesty the King are being deployed, essentially focused on human development, recalled Mr. Bourita.
The Sovereign’s African policy is also based on dynamism and a spirit of initiative, particularly within the framework of a diplomacy of action and impetus, where the initiative is not “movement”, but “ activism” in the service of a clear Vision, noted the minister.
Mr. Bourita further affirmed that the Royal vision is also based on a policy of belonging and not of neighborhood, because Africa, he said, is not just a neighborhood for Morocco. , but it is a land of identity, geographical, cultural, religious and historical belonging.
Underlining the centrality of people in the Sovereign’s African policy, the minister affirmed that the emergence of Africa will be driven by Africans and that human capital is the continent’s greatest wealth. The markers of the African Vision of His Majesty the King are perfectly applicable to the question of education in Africa, said Mr. Bourita on the occasion of this day organized under the sign “Education, a real lever for development and transformation in Africa”.
Morocco’s commitment in the field of education is not only national, but also continental, he noted, recalling that the Kingdom has established exchange programs promoting the sharing of knowledge and good practices in this area. Morocco has invested in strengthening educational infrastructure in Africa and has equipped itself to become, today, a destination of choice for African students, said Mr. Bourita, affirming that this is a Source of pride and humility at the same time.
“During the 2023-2024 academic year, we had the pleasure of welcoming 1,592 African students from 43 countries to our establishments, including a significant number of scholarship holders from the Moroccan state,” he said. he said.
African students are present in all regions of Morocco, including Laâyoune and Dakhla, said the minister, noting that in total, more than 3,000 students from 36 African countries are currently accommodated in university campuses and boarding schools in Morocco.
As for the diplomatic field, some 240 African diplomats have benefited, since 2014, from the international diplomacy cycle provided by the Moroccan Academy of Diplomatic Studies, and 83 African diplomats have benefited from the initial training cycle.
This meeting, enhanced by the presence in particular of the Zambian Minister of Justice, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mulambo Haimbe, currently on a working visit to Morocco, as well as several ambassadors accredited in Rabat and personalities from various horizons, was marked by the screening of a documentary capsule entitled “The commitment of the Kingdom under the leadership of HM King Mohammed VI in favor of the training and development of skills and employability of African youth” .
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