“Morocco, thanks to its African leadership, and Italy, thanks to its Mediterranean vocation, can jointly promote initiatives towards Africa in a spirit of egalitarian partnership and respectful of the sovereignty of African countries,” indicated Mr. Balla, during a meeting on the future of the Mediterranean, this weekend in Palermo.
The Moroccan diplomat noted that, thanks to a real vision, the Kingdom has consolidated its positioning and established itself as a bridge between Africa and Europe.
“Morocco is working for a Mediterranean partnership adapted to the realities of the region and its peoples. And in this context, the Royal Atlantic Initiative and the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project are two examples of Moroccan projects aimed at the “Africa and represent a real lever for promoting sustainable development, economic growth and the consolidation of political stability in the countries of the region,” he said.
After noting that the Mediterranean area is crossed by “numerous fractures”, he noted that the Mediterranean integration process needs to “be rehabilitated” to be able to respond to new challenges. Hence, according to him, the imperative of a ‘mobilizing project that promotes co-development’.
Mr. Balla, in this regard, pointed out ”the divide in human mobility, which is the DNA of the history of the Mediterranean and which has always enabled the enrichment of knowledge and civilizations”.
To this end, he noted the disparity in terms of development between the two shores of the Mediterranean, in the sense that the northern shore represents 12% of world trade compared to 3% of the southern shore.
The ambassador, in this regard, highlighted the importance of the Mattei plan, which, without having the ambition to replace the Mediterranean integration processes, is able to fill certain gaps and failures observed in the various processes of Mediterranean integration.
Mr. Balla indicated, in this context, that Morocco adhered to this plan from the start, because it coincides on many of its elements with the strategic priorities of the Kingdom in the wider Mediterranean area.
This meeting was organized as part of the annual meeting of the political party “Forza Italia” under the theme “At the center of the Mediterranean”, in the presence of the Vice-President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation international, Antonio Tajani, as well as several members of the government and deputies.