Lots of emotion, this Friday January 17 evening, in the reception rooms on the first floor of the Théâtre de Dreux. Samira Sitaïl, Moroccan ambassador to France, is eagerly awaited by the few guests who have the chance to meet her before the greeting ceremony of the mayor of Dreux.
For Samira Sitaïl, the moment is also very symbolic. The ambassador is invited on a sort of journey through time, a return to the past and a look toward the future.
It was in 2004-2005, Samira Sitaïl was then a journalist on the Moroccan channel 2M. Already at the time, she had chosen to leave Paris to discover what was being done in smaller towns in France. “Dreux was a pioneer at the time, I did a report on the Muslim square, which was particularly highlighted and well maintained.”
A symbol of living together which was close to the heart of the young Moroccan journalist and which the ambassador still cultivates today.
It is with this conviction that she returns to Dreux at the invitation of Pierre-Frédéric Billet who has chosen to place the year 2025 under the sign of Morocco.
“This is a very important gesture. Firstly because there are many Moroccans or French people of Moroccan origin who live here. Then, because it seems to me that in Dreux, there is a real humanity between people, here, we don’t talk about tolerance, a word that I don’t like very much, because it means that we tolerate each other. . In Dreux, we know how to live together, we are able to appreciate the differences in origins, cultures and religions.”
To welcome her, there are of course those who met her twenty years ago. This is the case of Bouchaïb Erraji, responsible for the great Oriels mosque at the time. He is moved when he finds Samira Sitaïl and hands her the business card of the 2M journalist that he has kept for twenty years.
-She turns to Ahmed Qerrouani to confirm the precise dates. “You were deputy mayor at the time,” she smiles. Samira Sitaïl appreciates memories, but does not cultivate nostalgia.
Special mention for Intelcia
The ambassador listens with interest to the city development projects outlined to her by the mayor of Dreux. She is also delighted to meet the younger generations. Mina Daoudi, director of the Local Mission, Rachid Azakir, owner of several hotels including one in Dreux, Saïd Achafi, entrepreneur, Oulaïd Alami who took up the torch behind Bouchaïb Erraji… chat with the ambassador in all simplicity.
She is pleased to meet the leaders of Intelcia, a flagship of the local economy: “I know Mr. Bernoussi (CEO of the Intelcia group) well, when you see him, convey my most sincere friendship to him.” She also remembers Jamal Belahrach, who grew up in Dreux and made the return trip to do business in Morocco.
“Dreux, a model for Paris”
With Samira Sitaïl, we go back and forth in time. We also go back and forth between Morocco and France without any borders.
She takes the time to chat with everyone, to take a souvenir photo with the women or the elders. But, she also takes the time to appreciate the pastries offered to her by Othmane, a young pastry chef introduced to her by Alexis Beaufils, the 2022 world champion of sweet arts, who is due to settle in Dreux at the end of 2025.
From Dreux, she leaves with a stained glass work representing the royal domain. At the entrance to the Theater, she lingers in front of the image of the Dreux rose – Princess Philomena. Like a nod from the royal city to the Cherifian kingdom.
Samira Sitaïl leaves strengthened in her conviction: “Dreux could serve as a model in Paris in this art of living that we find here”.
