Morocco’s diplomacy thrived in 2019, with increased assertiveness in African affairs and a “growing visibility” on worldwide platforms.
Rabat – Morocco’s foreign affairs ministry has said that 2019 was a year of “100% success” in Morocco’s regional and multilateral engagements.
In a report detailing its activities and “milestone achievements” in 2019, the Moroccan ministry provided a long list of diplomatic events, including conferences and appointments of Moroccan diplomats in leadership positions in a number of international organizations, saying these events highlighted the country’s “growing importance” in discussions about the world’s most burning issues.
Growing visibility in global dialogues
Prominently featured in the report is Morocco’s role in international and regional organizations. At the global level, said the report, the kingdom has become an indispensable partner and actor in areas such as counterterrorism, sustainable development, energy efficiency, and tourism.
2019, according to the report, was the year when “Morocco’s genuinely multilateralism-driven, responsible, and proactive diplomacy, allowed it to increase its visibility and assert its presence in different international fora.”
One notable aspect of the Moroccan diplomacy’s “100% success” was the appointment of Moroccan diplomats at the helm of a number of international institutions.
The appointments included, the vice-presidency of the UN Economic and Social Council for 2020, the presidency of the UN Information Committee for 2019-2021, the presidency of UNICEF’s administrative council, among others.
On security (especially the fight against terrorism), sustainable development, clean energy, migration, tourism, climate change, and other topics of global relevance, argued the Moroccan ministry, 2019 was perhaps the year when Morocco cemented its regional leadership position as well its growing status as an indispensable interlocutor in global dialogues and exchanges.
The report explained that Morocco’s “growing visibility” was illustrated by its designation as a venue for holding worldwide summits and conferences. It explained that Morocco’s designation to organize such conferences also had a lot to do with the country’s “stability and experience” in organizing global events.
It also suggested that the organization in Marrakech of the Global Compact on Migration in December of last year, as well as current plans to hold more global events in Morocco in the coming years and months both testified to “Morocco’s growing importance” and the Moroccan diplomacy’s “widely acknowledged” commitments to global frameworks.
For the Moroccan ministry, the appointments of Moroccans in decision-making positions in several international organizations, as well as the country’s designation to host important global meetings, came both as an acknowledgement of Moroccans’ expertise and a consecration of “the kingdom’s effective presence in global affairs.”
South-South commitment
Another area of success was the increased assertiveness of Morocco’s South-South commitment.
In Africa and the wider so-called “Global South,” the statement emphasized, Morocco is known for its commitment to South-South cooperation and its efforts to promote intra-African exchanges. In the past months, it added, Morocco has consolidated its status as “the African leader of South-South cooperation, which is one of the pillars of our diplomacy.”
Morocco joined the African Union (AU) in January 2017, more than three decades after leaving the organization’s precursor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), over disagreements on the organization’s stance on the Western Sahara question.
In two years of AU membership, Morocco has emerged as an important and “largely acknowledged” voice in continental affairs, being elected to a number of AU bodies and availing its expertise in areas of security, sustainable development, scientific research, and agriculture. “All this constituted an acknowledgement of Morocco’s indubitable contribution to collective efforts,” said the ministry.
