In a speech during a ceremony organized on the occasion of the celebration of the International Day of Africa, Mr. Babana El Alaoui highlighted the particular interest that HM King Mohammed VI has in strengthening South-South cooperation.
In this regard, he recalled the speech of HM the King before the 28th Summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa in 2017, in which the Sovereign had indicated that “Africa is My Continent, and My home.”
The Moroccan diplomat also recalled the Royal Message addressed to the participants in the Crans-Montana Forum in Dakhla in 2016, in which His Majesty King Mohammed VI indicated that Morocco has made South-South cooperation “a fundamental axis of its foreign policy and a central line of conduct for its international action.”
“In this capacity, it works both individually and in collaboration with brother and partner countries to carry out concrete programs in targeted areas, aiming for measurable results in terms of growth and well-being of the populations of the South in the economic field, but also in the social, cultural, environmental and religious fields” had stressed HM the King, Mr. Babana El Alaoui recalled.
To formulate this Morocco-Africa cooperation in figures, the Moroccan diplomat cited the 52 Royal visits involving 30 countries, the 1000 agreements signed since 1999, and a humane migration policy which has allowed the regularization of around 60,000 Africans since 2014.
As an illustration, for the year 2019-2020 there were more than 12,000 African students enrolled in Morocco representing 47 African countries, he continued, noting that these African students are scholarship holders of the Kingdom at the rate of 85% representing 91% of the total international scholarship holders.
Mr. Babana El Alaoui also mentioned the scourge of separatism and terrorism which constitutes an obstacle, a brake on the human and economic development of the African continent and from which several African regions particularly suffer.
The destructive and morbid impact of this sinister couple, which constitute separatism and terrorism, is no longer in doubt and its evocation during the work of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition against Daesh held recently in Marrakech, is suggestive of concrete actions and a strong signal for the eradication of this scourge, he said.
The Moroccan diplomat also noted that “the attack on the territorial integrity of countries and that of the memory of the liberating fathers of this valiant continent are red lines and can in no case be a game financed and placed in the hands of irresponsible separatists and terrorists to boot.”
The ceremony to celebrate Africa Day, this year under the theme “Africa can feed the world”, was attended in particular by Bissau-Guinean and Moroccan officials and personalities.
The celebration of World Africa Day, a date marking the 59th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on May 25, 1963, symbolizes the struggle waged by African states to ensure progress and economic emergence for their peoples.
2024-08-18 23:42:59