Rabat – Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Omar Hilale has reiterated the country’s support for small and developing islands, urging bilateral and multilateral partnerships to address pressing issues such as climate change.
“Ambassador Hilale welcomes the launch of the UN SIDS #partnership award earlier today during the Ambassadorial meeting of the steering committee on partnerships for #SIDS,” tweeted the Permanent Mission of Morocco to the UN.
Proposed by Antigua and Barbuda and the Republic of Malta in the 2020-2021 period, the United Nations Small Island Developing States and Partnerships (SIDS) Awards “recognizes the efforts of the most genuine and durable partnerships for the sustainable development of SIDS.”
The Awards was launched on March 14 by the steering committee’s co-chairs, Portugal and Samoa.
On the occasion, Ambassador Hilale underlined that geography or distance is not a burden to partnerships with SIDS in Africa, the Pacific, and the Caribbean on issues such as climate change that endanger the livelihood of local communities.
“We need to stay aware that climate crisis is deepening. Coast countries in general and SIDS, in particular, are already witnessing significant amounts of their coastal lines being affected by sea rise levels and irreversible inundations,” tweeted the Moroccan mission to the UN.
Ambassador Hilale also noted the operationalization of the SIDS commission at last year’s Glasgow COP26, saying the project was initiated on the sidelines of COP 22 in Marrakech to address the threatening impacts of climate change on small islands such as the rising sea levels and temperature.
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Morocco has long expressed interest in assisting and partnering with SIDS under the framework of South-South cooperation.
In 2014, Morocco called for the transfer of clean technology, the use of renewable energy, and the finance of sustainable development projects in SIDS to trigger positive economic growth and stability in the islands.
The Moroccan message came during the third international conference on small island developing states in Apia, Samoa.
Prior to the conference, the North African country held the first meeting of the Island States of the Pacific that took place in Rabat in December 2012. Nearly eight years later, the Moroccan capital again hosted the Island States of the Pacific’s third meeting in February 2020.
The third meeting focused on climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nasser Bourita, the chief of Moroccan diplomacy, stressed Morocco’s commitment to South-South cooperation in a speech at the closing session of the third meeting.
Morocco is committed to sharing knowledge and expertise on climate change, health, and food security with the Pacific island countries “with humility, sincerity, and full respect for the needs and specificities of each state,” Bourita said.
