Speaking at the opening of the work of the first edition of this Forum, organized under the High Patronage of HM King Mohammed VI, Mr. Bioui considered that this meeting is an opportunity to emphasize the rights of African regions to a dignified life, enlightened education and adequate housing, noting that this challenge requires evolving within a framework of unity, solidarity, interdependence and complementarity.
“Faced with the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, the brain drain, as well as the growing disparities caused by the technological revolution, deliverance inevitably involves achieving the sustainable development goals, integration and the investment of African resources in favor of Africans in the first place,” he stressed.
Mr. Bioui noted that the holding of the first FORAF in the Oriental Region is an achievement which concretizes the essential role to which this region aspires and clearly expresses the desire of the regions to achieve the objectives of this pan-African entity.
In this sense, he noted, the Oriental region has made decentralized cooperation of resources, the solidarity and social economy and territorial coaching an essential axis in its interactions with the African regions which can benefit from benefit from his experiences.
In this regard, he mentioned a number of conventions which were signed by the Oriental region with African regions, and which cover different areas ranging from the solidarity and social economy to territorial coaching through the granting of scholarships to students from these regions who can continue their studies at the Mohammed I University of Oujda or other professional training centers.
This experience of decentralized cooperation, continued Mr. Bioui, received new impetus thanks to the creation of the African Fund to Support International Decentralized Cooperation of Local Authorities (FACDI) under the Ministry of the Interior, and which made it possible to finance and carry out various projects in partnership with local authorities.
The first Forum of African Regions is organized by the Association of Regions of Morocco (ARM), in collaboration with the United City and Local Government of Africa Organization (UCLG Africa), and the Oriental Regional Council, with the support of the Ministry of the Interior (Directorate General of Territorial Communities -DGCT-).
This first edition of FORAF sees the participation of more than 20 African countries adopting a decentralized system, with the presence of around 85 presidents of African regions.