Rabat – King Mohammed VI outlined Morocco’s priorities at the EU-AU summit, which opened on Thursday in Brussels.
Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita today read a speech by King Mohammed to leaders from the EU and AU.
In his speech, King Mohammed VI renewed Morocco’s priority actions seeking to address prevailing challenges hampering further development on the African continent.
Education, culture, vocational training, as well as migration, are the challenges the monarch said he personally considers priorities for action —be it “in Morocco, in Africa or in the framework of our partnership with the European Union.”
The priorities all “essentially” impact youth, the world’s human capital.
“It is on them that the partnership between the two continents should capitalize in order to achieve its full potential,” the monarch said.
In the speech, the king recalled COVID-19 repercussions and their impacts on key sectors, calling for joint action and shared responsibility to address common challenges.
“First, in the area of education, let us keep in mind that, at the height of the pandemic, 94% of the student population in the world suffered school closures,” the monarch argued.
The challenge put urgency on world leaders on the two continents to find solutions to ensure the continuity of education,” taking into account the new context of digital transformation in this domain.”
The monarch also recalled the riches of motivated young people that l the African continent enjoys, saying that 50% of the population on the continent is under 20.
He, therefore, called for major reforms to schools, universities, and vocational training institutions to “make up for the 1.8 trillion hours of lost schooling.”
Recalling COVID-19 restrictions, the monarch said that the pandemic’s issues have not “spared culture either — “be it in economic terms, or from the standpoint of access… the shock has been considerable.”
Migration was another key theme the monarch addressed during his speech, reiterating the need to embrace migration and mobility as key for both continents’ economies.
“Finally, the pandemic has shown that in terms of mobility, migrants do not have a harmful effect on the economy. On the contrary, they have a positive impact in their host country – where they are often “essential workers” – as well as in their country of origin.,” he said.
The speech also recalled Morocco’s efforts and its humanitarian approach regarding migration.
King Mohammed VI earned the title of the “Leaser on the Issue of Migration” within the AU in the 28th AU summit in 2017.
