Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, highlighted today Morocco’s leading role in transforming Covid-related challenges into opportunities, through the launch of various reforms.
Speaking during the 7th Med (Mediterranean) Dialogues forum in Rome, Bourita pointed out the North African country’s largely successful response to the COVID crisis.
He notably mentioned the creation of a strategic investment fund, the support provided for the private sector, the injection of the equivalent of 11% of the GDP into the national economy, as well as the in-depth reform aimed at improving the social protection system.
“Under the leadership of HM King Mohammed VI, Morocco has also implemented an ambitious project to manufacture a vaccine against covid-19, in order to ensure the health sovereignty of the kingdom and African countries,” said the minister.
“The country has channeled medical aid for around twenty African countries and for the African Union Commission, in order to support them in their efforts to fight against the pandemic,” he added.
Bourita also raised the question of whether an egalitarian vaccination “would have been able to prevent this situation,” noting that two-speed vaccination constitutes a “permanent risk of an epidemiological relapse.”
He underlined the connection between the health crisis and the situation of migrants, expressing that the pandemic “was an eloquent demonstration of the positive impact of migrants for the host country, but exacerbated vulnerabilities and created inequalities.”
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The chief of Moroccan diplomacy then mentioned the Kingdom’s position as “a designated champion” in the implementation of the Marrakech Migration Pact, signed in December 2018 to ensure better international protection of migrants, while still preserving States’ sovereignty over their migration policy.
Recalling the inauguration of the African Migration Observatory in Rabat in December 2020, Bourita expressed that the initiative “reflects the vision of King Mohammed VI, African leader of migration.”
Regarding the 2021 Med Dialogues meeting in Rome, the Moroccan minister stressed the importance of “the relevant and necessary” discussions which offer “an open space to suggest innovative solutions to the common challenges of the region.”
In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Med Dialogues intend to develop a positive agenda for the Mediterranean, starting with multilateralism as a conflict resolution strategy.
To this end, the forum discusses major issues such as innovative policies for managing migratory flows, the fate of the younger generations after the pandemic, as well as the main actions to accelerate the transition to a green and sustainable economy.
