Rabat – The Parliamentary Friendship Groups of Honduras, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, as well as the Global Latin Africa Foundation, hope to learn from Morocco’s experience in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a joint statement released on March 18, the parliamentary friendship groups expressed their wish to benefit from Morocco’s experience with managing the COVID-19 crisis, particularly in terms of the country’s success with its national vaccination campaign.
In the statement, the friendship groups called on Morocco’s support “through cooperation and the transfer of experiences,” noting the North African country’s successful COVID-19 pandemic response.
The parliamentarians believe that Morocco’s national vaccination campaign, which accounts for 95% of all COVID-19 vaccinations in Africa, confirms Morocco’s position as a “leader in this area on the African continent.”
Honduras’s Member of Parliament Johana Bermudez, Wendy Maria Guido of the Nicaragua-Morocco Parliamentary Friendship Group, and former Member of Bolivia’s Parliament Shirley Suarez Antelo, as the acting secretary of the Bolivia-Morocco Parliamentary Friendship Group, all signed the document. It calls for the development of a diplomatic and parliamentary framework as well as a multilateral plan to allow for future cooperation with Morocco.
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Besides cooperation contextualized by the pandemic, the parliamentarians hope to strengthen “parliamentary diplomacy and the necessary cooperation in times of crisis, particularly on the basis of south-south cooperation and triangular cooperation.”
Morocco has slowly been growing its presence in Latin America over the last years. In December 2020, the Central American Parliament expressed support for Morocco’s actions to restore the free movement of goods and people in Guerguerat.
“We express our solidarity with Morocco and our concern for the free movement of people and goods” through Guerguerat, the organization said in a statement.
“The main objective is to preserve peace in the region in order to guarantee prosperity and freedom of civil and commercial mobility,” they added.
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