Rabat – As Africa navigates an acute food and energy crisis, the head of Morocco’s government Aziz Akhannouch has called for international support to help the continent mitigate its current and future economic challenges and reduce its debt by launching development initiatives.
Akhannouch made the comments during his speech at the General Debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The debate, which is an opportunity for heads of state and governments to discuss world issues, is taking place between September 20 and 26 in New York.
Akhannouch highlighted the “multidimensional crises” and the “series of deep and successive challenges” the world is suffering from, three years following the COVID-19 outbreak, particularly in Africa. “The African continent is the most affected by the spillovers of the current difficult economic circumstances,” he noted.
“What is preventing us from effectively managing these crises is not the fact that we are not aware of its manifestations and interactions, it is rather the lack of a true political will,” Akhannouch stressed.
He argued that the multilateral system is facing a crisis on several levels, including a “crisis of values,” “divisions within international institutions,” as well as the “fragmentation of multilateral work and the frame of narrow circumstantial alliances that are not commensurate with the current complicated crisis.”
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Most of these crises undermine “the principle of cooperation and solidarity on which the United Nations was established,” Akhannouch explained, stressing the urgent need for the UN to lead “strategic changes” to face the current global challenges and ensure the security and prosperity of Africa.
Highlighting Africa’s “important” human and natural resources, he argued that the continent possesses what it takes to “turn challenges into opportunities” and emerge from the crisis “stronger than ever.”
The Moroccan head of government recalled King Mohammed VI’s statement at the African Union’s 28th summit, in which the monarch stressed that the African continent has the means and capability to work collectively toward achieving the aspirations of the African peoples.
Akhannouch also highlighted the cooperation and partnership project that the King launched with the aim of boosting economic growth and integration in the continent, including building a COVID vaccines manufacturing facility for the benefit of Africa.
He concluded his statement by reiterating the North African country’s commitment to reaching a political solution for the Western Sahara dispute, based on Morocco’s Autonomy Plan.
