Afro-Atlantic Treaty: Morocco Says Only Unity, Solidarity Can Save Africa

Casablanca – With the Moroccan capital of Rabat hosting today the first Ministerial Meeting of the African Atlantic States, which saw the participation of 21 Atlantic coast countries, Morocco’s FM, Nasser Bourita, spoke emphatically of the need for Africa to have a “shared strategic vision” for its future.

“As we come together to write a new chapter of dialogue and cooperation among Atlantic African states, we are not starting from scratch,” Nasser Bourita said, adding that African countries are destined to boost their ties and work together to confront common challenges.

Focusing on three main themes — “Political Dialogue, Security, and Safety,” “Blue Economy and Connectivity,” and “Environment and Energy” — the main goal of today’s meeting was to build a shared African vision, defend the continent’s strategic interests, and build an African Atlantic identity, Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

In his speech, Bourita recalled that since 2013, King Mohammed VI has been advocating for “re-launching the operations of the Conference of African States bordering the Atlantic and allowing it to play its full role.”

Morocco’s initiative to host today’s gathering underscores the country’s commitment to emphasizing the Atlantic’s strategic importance for Africa, Bourita highlighted, arguing that the event also shows Morocco’s commitment to cultivating and sustaining African solidarity on the global stage.

“Atlantic Africa,” Bourita said, “has almost everything to be a zone of peace, stability, and shared prosperity.”

Noting that the 23 Atlantic African countries participating in today’s meeting represent 46% of the African population; 55% of the African GDP; and 57% of continental trade, the chief of Moroccan diplomacy renewed Morocco’s commitment to fostering continental solidarity.

Africa is synonymous with mobility and cultural and ethnic mixing, and its maritime spaces are home to enormous resources, both biological and non-biological, he stressed.

He added, however, that the continent’s abundant resources have made it a space of fierce competition, conflict-laden great power politics, and internal political strife. “It faces unprecedented security challenges with the rise of asymmetric threats, transnational crime, maritime insecurity, piracy, terrorism, and organized crime,” Bourita explained.

He said that today’s meeting is the beginning of a long, much-needed process to overcome the challenges and fierce conflicts that the continent has had to endure because of its abundant resources.

Calling for the establishment of an “Afro-Atlantic” treaty, he insisted that Africa needs “to take ownership of the Atlantic, to formulate common positions.” The main goal, he offered, is to devise a “strategic identity” and “act collectively to meet the imperatives of security, sustainable development, and prosperity of our space.”

He concluded: “It is today and now that we must structure our African Atlantic space. Our ambition is not only to reactivate the mechanisms of the past but to overcome them.”