Speaking at a panel discussing “Inter-regional initiatives and partnerships: opportunities for integration and development”, member of the Moroccan parliamentary delegation from the General Confederation of Moroccan Companies (CGEM) Mohamed Amouri, said that Morocco, thanks to the Royal Vision, had made South-South cooperation a strategic lever of its foreign policy and one of its diplomacy's constants.
Amouri emphasized that the Kingdom's commitment to promoting South-South cooperation is part of a strategic Royal vision focused on building capacity for human development, supporting economic integration, and promoting peace, security and stability, according to a win-win approach, highlighting various initiatives launched by HM the King as a pioneering and innovative model of South-South cooperation for sustainable growth.
In this vein, he referred to the Royal Speech to the 15th Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held last May in the Gambian capital Banjul, where HM the King highlighted the launch of the Africa-Atlantic Initiative as a process of African partnership, ultimately aiming to strengthen cooperation and integration between African countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean, so as to bolster peace, stability and shared prosperity in the region.
Amouri also underlined the launch of the Royal Initiative to promote access to the Atlantic Ocean for Sahel countries, as part of the Kingdom's ongoing efforts to build a prosperous Africa, as well as the ambitious Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project, deemed as a regional integration and joint economic revival project designed to boost development momentum in the Atlantic area.
In this context, Amouri also pointed out the official visits made by HM the King to more than 30 African countries, with the aim of strengthening cooperation towards an effective and mutually supportive strategic partnership, adding that the Kingdom has inked several bilateral cooperation agreements with numerous African countries, notably in economic, trade, security, customs and cultural fields.
Morocco is considered one of the continent's most important investors in the social, financial, economic, technological and infrastructure sectors, he continued, stating that Morocco has become the leading African investor in Western Africa, with investments amounting to over 4.5 billion dollars.
At the Arab level, the Kingdom has always called for increased efforts to strengthen Arab economic cooperation and integration in order to overcome current economic and social challenges, by accelerating the pace of economic and trade integration projects.
On the other hand, Amouri deemed parliamentary diplomacy as an important factor in consolidating strategic partnerships between member countries and strengthening economic integration between Arab and African countries, with the aim of finding pragmatic and effective responses to various issues of development.
In this respect, he called for exchanging experiences and adopting the best practices in the economic and social fields to meet the challenges facing member countries, noting that parliamentarians, as the link between governments and peoples, must work to support policies and strategies aimed at accelerating the achievement of integration objectives, an essential factor in shared prosperity and peace.
The two-day meeting under the theme “Strengthening joint parliamentary action by countries of the South to meet environmental, technological and development challenges” is co-chaired by President of ASSECAA Enaam Mayara and President of the Equatorial Guinean Senate Teresa Efua Asangono.