Jean-Louis GUIGOU, Founder of IPEMED: “Long live the new strategic partnership (…)

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Comments collected by Alfred MIGNOT, Director of AfricaPresse.Paris (APP)
@africa_presse

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AfricaPresse.paris (APP) – You had the privilege of being invited among the personalities who accompanied President Macron during his recent state visit to Morocco. What was the atmosphere like?

Jean-Louis GUIGOU – Much joy and relief!… Because the crisis which lasted three years was profound, directly involving two heads of state, His Majesty the King of Morocco and the President of the French Republic.

An experienced ambassador, Christophe Lecourtier, was appointed in 2022, with the mission of working towards this reconciliation, the result of which meets the challenges and past trauma.

APP – What are the unique characteristics of this reconciliation which aims to be an ambitious rebuilding of the relationship between France and Morocco?

Jean-Louis GUIGOU – The commitments of Morocco and France are very solid and irreversible. President Macron has repeated it several times, in front of the French community, in front of business leaders, at university, in front of Moroccan parliamentarians: Morocco and France are now engaged in a strategic process which should lead Europe and Africa. It is this mutual challenge that the two partners launch into each other.

But, are we capable of leading both Europe and Africa?

Because Europe is involved in the management of the war in Ukraine; in the Israel-Palestine conflict which divides our societies, and in the geopolitical and economic consequences of the election of Trump… But because the project between Morocco and France is ambitious, it must involve the whole other European and African partners.

A second sentence came up several times in the presidential remarks: the strategic partnership between Morocco and France is the only one of such density to be implemented by France with a country that is not in the European Union. . And no other country in the world has a partnership comparable to that between France and Morocco. This partnership is characterized by three strategic ambitions.

APP – First of all, how do we share the same intercontinental vision?

Jean-Louis GUIGOU – The Atlantic Initiative promoted since August 2022 by His Majesty King Mohammed VI is entirely in line with Africa-Mediterranean-Europe regional integration, based on two initiatives from 2017, one from Morocco and the other from France.

It started in January 2017, when Morocco joined the African Union. For me, it is a pivotal date in the evolution of Morocco, which then considers that the Euro-Mediterranean – in which the European Union continued to lock itself in, was not the right framework. We must move from a marginal Mediterranean, the “dead end” of Europe, to a central Mediterranean, a pivot between Europe and Africa. The Africa-Mediterranean-Europe Vertical will gradually replace the Euro-Mediterranean policy which made the Mediterranean the southern border of Europe.

Thus, by rejoining the African Union, Morocco is opening the doors to Africanness. For himself and also for Europe. It is a clear and strategic vision.

And 2017 is also the year when newly elected President Emmanuel Macron declares that he wants to create a greater Africa-Mediterranean-Europe region.

And so what is happening today is the politically affirmed convergence of the same vision.

While America will close in on itself, with the sole objective of keeping its lead over China, and China also has only one objective, to follow America and find enough allies to overthrow the world order, Morocco and France will work together to bring together not only their economies but also those of Europe and Africa.

APP – We not only share the same vision, we also share the same objective: how to participate and accelerate the industrial development of Africa, and this through co-production and co-location which are strategic concepts…

Jean-Louis GUIGOU – Yes, the time has come for Africa to industrialize, as Morocco began to do, around fifteen years ago, with the Minister of Industry Moulay Hafid Elalamy. I am thinking in particular of the successes of the automotive and aeronautics sectors, of the logistics sector with Tanger Med and the LGV which will be extended to Marrakech, of renewable energies with the Nour power plant and already green hydrogen, etc.

The 22 contracts signed during the state visit – for 10 billion euros – demonstrate the diversity of the Moroccan economy. Also, we observe quite clearly a convergence on the idea which is very close to my heart: from now on, it is for the capital of the North to “go down” towards the populations of the South, and not for the populations of the South to “go up” towards the capital of the North, as was the case since the 1970s under the presidency of Giscard d’Estaing.

It is not a question of relocation, but of participating in development and co-production actions with local, Moroccan, North African and then African industries. Domestic industries, for example the production of washing machines, bicycles, furniture… all products that can be manufactured locally without necessarily having to resort to imports.

APP – The third, decisive element is France’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara…

Jean-Louis GUIGOU – We understand well that the shared vision towards Africa and the common objective of industrialization of the South were difficult to achieve without a positive conclusion to the definition of Morocco’s borders and its sovereignty. It had to be finished.

For France, it took a long time, due to difficult relations with Algeria, as everyone knows. But ultimately the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, in his letter of July 30, 2024 to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, and as he reaffirmed before the Moroccan Parliament, clearly and firmly declared that France is alongside Morocco and will take political steps towards the European Commission to change its position, as well as towards the UN to accelerate the international recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.

There is no doubt, we are in a strong historical moment.

APP – Beyond President Macron’s speech to Moroccan parliamentarians, what other highlight do you remember from this trip?

Jean-Louis GUIGOU – A very beautiful sequence occurred on Wednesday October 30 morning at OCP, the Office Chérifien des Phosphates, with its CEO Mr. Mustapha Terab and in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron and the Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard.

The theme was sustainable agriculture. All participants were able to appreciate the evolution of this company, originally mining, which gradually moved to the promotion of services for the benefit of the agricultural world, as close as possible to the producers.

Thanks to satellites, the competent services of the OCP are able to analyze the soils in a perfect way, plot by plot, to know what to add as fertilizer, at what time, how to save water, do not put potash before phosphorus, and do not put nitrogen between the two…

In short, this expertise of OCP is absolutely remarkable for ensuring the development of sustainable agriculture that saves water, saves fertilizer and saves usable agricultural area.

APP – What should we expect with Algeria, which is not upset by this France-Morocco rapprochement?

Jean-Louis GUIGOU – I was perhaps the only one in the delegation to feel not a little sadness, but perhaps a little nostalgia and regret, because I was thinking of our Algerian friends.

With Morocco, we talk about the future and modernity. With Algeria, we talk about the past and memory. For me, this is a mistake. We lock ourselves in resentment on both sides. It’s like a couple breaking up. Both have shared reasons and faults.

My sadness comes from the fact that there is perhaps a link between the maintenance of the memorial income and the maintenance of the oil income. By maintaining this hatred of France and the West, by playing Putin’s game, the game of dictators, we maintain a deep animosity which allows the Algerian ruling class to maintain itself and benefit from oil revenues.

APP – What should we propose to Algeria?

Jean-Louis GUIGOU – Both very modestly and with great ambition, IPEMED proposed in 2014 to make Algeria the “electric battery” of Europe, drawing inspiration from the work of the Algerian economist, Mourad Preure. We proposed it to Mr. Abdelmalek Sellal, then Prime Minister of Algeria, who asked us for an “ambitious project”… We proposed to create together a large renewable energy company in the world. “You have Sonatrach, we have Engie, it’s doable…”, we said.

Today, IPEMED still advocates for the creation of a Mediterranean Energy Community (MEC), drawing inspiration from the ECSC which contributed so well to the reconciliation of Germany and France.

APP – A word of conclusion?

Jean-Louis GUIGOU – This historic moment of the French President’s speech to Moroccan parliamentarians was fantastic! Uniquely in this place, he was applauded for a long time when the President reaffirmed, as in his letter of July 30 to His Majesty Mohammed VI, that “The present and future of Western Sahara are part of the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.

It was like a deliverance, like a rebirth. There was joy on both sides. Everyone was happy. And the more we applauded, the more people hugged each other.

The new strategic partnership between Morocco and France is well underway.

I express the hope that tomorrow, that is to say, in a few years, we will be able to have a state visit to Algeria to sign a strategic partnership with this great country, so close to France and full of future.

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*IPEMED : Jean-Louis Guigou, university professor and retired senior civil servant, founded the Institute of Economic Foresight of the Mediterranean World (IPEMED) in 2006 and chaired it until February 2020. From which date, he tried with Jean-Claude Juncker and numerous international supporters, to launch the Fondation la Verticale Afrique-Mediterranean-Europe (AME), which had a short-lived life, because it was put on hold from 2022… but which could be reborn from the Africa.

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Agenda Paris, Tuesday 11/26/24 – Seven Ambassadors will participate in the XV^e CAAPdedicated to rail networks in Africa. REGISTRATIONS OPEN.

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