Praise be to God                    

May peace and blessings be upon  

The Prophet, His Kith and Kin

My Dearest Brother, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Chairman of the Fourth Arab-South American Summit,

Your Majesties, 

Your Excellencies 

Your Highnesses,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I should like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and to the people of the sister nation, Saudi Arabia, for hosting this important summit and for taking the necessary measures to ensure its success.

I hope this forum, which has brought together Arab and South American countries, will help to strengthen effective, solidarity-based South-South cooperation and to address the development and security challenges facing our countries.

We would like this forum to promote dialogue and political coordination between the two groups, and to serve as a platform to support the positions of developing countries in international bodies and organizations. We also want it to strengthen our countries’ position as key, effective representatives of our nations in international relations and as contributors to global peace and security.

Thanks to our shared historical and cultural heritage and the long-standing cultural and humanitarian bonds between us, our countries are in a position to promote this participatory framework and make it a leading model for regional integration between the countries of the South.

Your Majesties, 

Your Excellencies,

Your Highnesses,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

From the very beginning, the Kingdom of Morocco has been effectively and resolutely involved in the cooperation mechanisms of the Arab-South American Forum. This is because we believe in the usefulness of regional groupings and in the role they can play in shoring up South-South solidarity-based cooperation and partnership, whose concepts I have constantly sought to reaffirm, making sure they lead to projects on the ground.

I am keen to ensure that Morocco, thanks to its strategic location, continues to serve as a gateway between America and the Arab world and as a link between Europe and Africa, and thus contribute to building bridges of communication and cooperation between the groupings to which it belongs.

To this end, Morocco has joined a number of regional forums. It has signed an agreement to join the Central American Integration System as an observer member. My country also has observer status in the Pacific Alliance, in the Organization of American States and in the Ibero-American General Secretariat. Furthermore, Morocco has cooperation relations with member states of the Union of South American Nations.

These ties have been strengthened thanks to the opening of the Pacific Alliance’s economic and trade office at Casablanca Finance City, the Kingdom’s economic and financial hub.

Through the Institute for studies and research on South America, which is headquartered in Morocco, my country is helping to foster similar views and better communication, understanding and cultural interaction between the two groupings thanks to fruitful relations between universities and higher institutes, the development of studies in various scientific fields and the encouragement of joint academic work.

Your Majesties, 

Your Excellencies,

Your Highnesses,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Arab-South American relations should pave the way for a multi-dimensional partnership and for leveraging the tremendous natural and human resources available in both groups, through the promotion of investment, increased trade and the consolidation of the role of public and private economic operators with a view to injecting fresh momentum into the desired partnership.

Special attention should be devoted to human development, through the preparation and implementation of social projects that have a direct impact on the citizens’ lives. This should help us reduce poverty and vulnerability, bring about the conditions needed for a dignified life and protect people against the scourge of drugs, immigration-related tragedies and the tyranny of human trafficking networks.

On the political level, the Kingdom of Morocco wishes to say how much it appreciates the positions of South American countries in support of Arab just causes, particularly that of Palestine. Indeed, South American countries were among the first to defend Palestine’s right to obtain a non-member observer state status at the United Nations Organization.

As Chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Al-Quds Committee, I shall continue my untiring efforts to support the Palestinian people’s right to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

I am also keen to see the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency continue its activities on the ground and to carry on with its social, health and education projects in order to support our brothers in Al-Quds in their resistance and to safeguard the legal status of that holy city, its Arab-Islamic and Christian identity and as well as its universal cultural heritage.

Given the systematic violations committed by the Israeli occupation authorities against the unarmed Palestinian people and their policy of killing, I call on the international community, particularly the influential powers, to shoulder their responsibility and take immediate measures to put an end to these illegal acts of aggression.

I also call on the sponsors of the peace process to keep up their efforts in order to compel Israel to return to the negotiating table, on the basis of a credible negotiation program with a clear, specific timetable for the achievement of the two-state solution, as provided for by the resolutions of international legitimacy and by the Arab Peace Initiative. 

Given the rapid changes and major challenges in the Arab region, I call for concerted efforts to find lasting solutions to conflicts in some Arab countries.

In this regard, I would like to express my support for the initiative taken by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to restore legitimate rule in Yemen. I also support all initiatives aimed at resolving the crisis in Syria, putting an end to bloodletting in that country, alleviating the suffering of the Syrian people and fulfilling their aspirations for freedom, security and stability.

I also call for a solution to the crisis in Libya through dialogue involving all components of the Libyan people. This is a goal Morocco has been trying to achieve by hosting the Libyan parties’ negotiations in Skhirat.

The alarming increase in the number of radical and terrorist groups which seek to disrupt global security and stability, undermine the territorial integrity of states, kill innocent people, destroy economic infrastructure and annihilate artefacts and symbols of human civilization requires resolute, collective action on the part of the international community as well as greater military and security coordination and cooperation; this should help us address this global scourge.

Furthermore, it is necessary to draw up an integrated strategy which promotes social and development aspects and which takes into account the crucial role played by the educational and religious dimensions in fostering tolerance and moderation and making young people immune to the lure of radical groups.

Your Majesties, 

Your Excellencies,

Your Highnesses,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The “Lima Declaration”, with the clear message it sent and its related plan of action, provides a suitable framework for the promotion of Arab-South American cooperation.

I look forward to the “Riyadh Declaration” to be adopted by this Summit, hoping it will support our action to develop a multi-dimensional partnership founded on a pragmatic approach that takes into account our countries’ capacities as well as their resources, priorities and pace of development, in addition to the changes unfolding in the world today, particularly in the areas of finance, business and technology.

I also hope the “Riyadh Declaration” will call on institutional, government and private economic operators to be more actively involved in order to improve the investment environment, create wealth and provide jobs by building on prospects for complementarity between the two groupings as well as on the exchange of experiences in the field of sustainable development. 

Among the most daunting challenges facing our countries is the need to respect the territorial integrity of states and to uphold human and moral values grounded in moderation and in the promotion of human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. It is also necessary to continue supporting channels for intercultural, inter-faith dialogue and tolerance, making sure mutual esteem prevails along with respect for peoples’ cultural identity and specific features.

Whatever the nature and scope of the challenges, I am convinced the universal human values of justice, right and legality will prevail over injustice, extremism and obscurantism so that we may see the dawn of a better, more stable, secure, solidarity-based and humane world.

May Almighty God assist us in serving the common good of our peoples and of mankind. 

Thank you.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh.