Rabat – The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, received on Friday in Rabat, the high representative of the coalition for the Sahel, Mauritanian Hamadi Meimou.
The coalition of Sahel was launched at the Pau Summit on 13 January 2020 by the Heads of State of France, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. The launching of the coalition was also attended by the United Nations Secretary-General, the President of the European Council, the European Union High Representative, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, and the Secretary General of La Francophonie.
Its founding purpose is to counter the security threat facing the region and to provide a more collective response to the challenges of the Sahel region by pooling the work undertaken by the G5 Sahel States and their international partners.
Morocco has long advocated for the need for regional coordination to restore political stability in the Sahel region.
While delivering a speech on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the Green March in November 2023, King Mohammed VU reiterated Morocco’s commitment to contributing to regional peace and security.
King Mohammed VI recalled Morocco’s commitment towards African development, saying that the continent’s prosperity was among the reasons prompting the launch of the initiative for the “creation of an institutional framework that brings together the twenty-three African countries bordering the Atlantic.”
Known as the Atlantic Initiative, the plan aims to boost regional integration and allow Sahel countries access to the Atlantic Ocean through major infrastructure projects.
The initiative is poised to boost the region’s socio-economic development. The plan has garnered the support of multiple African countries.
Earlier this month, Succes Masra, the Prime Minister of Chad, described the initiative as “highly relevant,” maintaining that “Morocco has paved the way for South-South cooperation.”
In February, delegates at the Parliamentary Conference on South-South Cooperation in Rabat equally expressed admiration for King Mohammed VI’s initiative to enhance access to the Atlantic Ocean for Sahel nations.
Representing national parliaments and parliamentary unions from Arab, African, and Latin American nations, the leaders emphasized the critical need to address significant infrastructural deficits and investments in the African Atlantic region.
Read Also: Global Leaders Applaud Moroccan Initiative to Boost Sahel Access to the Atlantic Ocean
