The African Union made Morocco vice president of the organization’s research element during a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria.
Rabat – Morocco is now second-in-command of the African Council for Scientific Research and Innovation (ASRIC). Morocco’s delegation for the meeting consisted of academics recruited from the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology in Rabat.
Morocco is joined by Zambia, Nigeria, and Cameroon, and they plan to work to “mobilize African research excellence and innovation,” according to the African Union’s website.
The AU held the meeting in the Nigerian capital from November 27 29 at the Abuja Sheraton. Representatives from throughout the continent met to launch the newly-created ASRIC. The meeting included directors from different research councils, the AU’s leading scientists, investment agencies, elements of the private sector, and civil servants. The director of the Hassan II Academy also travelled to Abuja to represent his school.
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The ASRIC hopes to stimulate scientific work by forming a collaborative network of scientists from throughout Africa and sharing research and data. Morocco’s leadership position in this new organization is a sign of the increased involvement that the country is commiting to in the organization. Earlier this year, Morocco was also elected to the AU’s Peace and Security council.
After exiting the AU for 33 years ago, Morocco recently rejoined the group in 2017; since then, it has worked to steadily prove itself as a leader in politics, economics, and science on the continent. During a trip to Tanzania shortly after the reunion, King Mohammed VI said that “[i]t is a beautiful day when one returns home after too long of an absence,” a sign that the country will likely continue to mold an important place for itself in the organization in the years to come.
