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Rabat – Natural resources, abundant assets, arable lands, and untapped opportunities – this is how analysts characterize Africa, a continent frequently described as a virgin and fertile ground.
With the immense potential that remains largely unlocked, Africa also suffers threats like irregular migration, brain drain, and food insecurity that prompted various actors across the continent to seek ways to support its development.
Morocco is one of the key actors working toward this vision. In 2023, the North African country launched the Atlantic Initiative for the Sahel, an initiative that aims to empower African countries to take control of their development trajectories.
The initiative announced by King Mohammed VI aims to foster regional cooperation and promote a unified approach to security, economic growth, and sustainability.
The action also capitalizes on its potential to enable Africa to turn itself into a continent that not only addresses its challenges but also acts as an influential player on the global stage.
“My goal is to transform the Atlantic region into a space for human interaction and economic integration, and to make sure it plays a key role at continental and international levels,” King Mohammed VI said in his Green March speech in November 2023.
The monarch’s goal is to also facilitate connectivity between different countries bordering the Atlantic, providing means of transportation to keep pace with the economic progress and urban expansion.
King Mohammed VI also emphasized the urgency of solving challenges facing African countries in the Sahel, not only through security and military approach but through measures based on cooperation and shared development.
The royal speech highlighted how the Atlantic region became a focal point for African states, requiring collective work to overcome shared challenges and harness untapped opportunities for growth and stability.
Throughout the past decade, Morocco has been conveying its determination to advocate for a unified approach to address the myriad challenges facing the African Atlantic space.
And as King Moahmmed VI sees it, only the unification of efforts could serve the African and international communities and guide them toward unlocking the region’s vast cooperation potential.
“Since the launch of the initiative, it has enjoyed a consensus and praise from the international community since the royal speech announced it,” Hassan Belouan, a political analyst and expert in international relations, told Morocco World News today.
The analyst stressed the increasing relevance and success of Morocco’s multifront continental diplomacy, noting how the North African kingdom has effectively invested in a wide range of African solidarity- and pan-Africanism-driven projects over the past decade.
Read Also: Morocco Launches Operational Phase of Atlantic Initiative for Sahel Countries
Beyond Africa, he argued, the effectiveness of Morocco’s newfound diplomatic assertiveness has been its ability to engage, and sign strategic deals with, major actors on the international stage. Morocco “also invests in its strategic relations with major powers in the East and West through a balanced policy that is open to everyone and seeks to have multiple regional and international partners,” he said, noting that the Atlantic initiative has received a nod from the US and several EU countries.
The initiative’s goal is to ensure stability in a region marked by several challenges, including human trafficking and other organized crimes such as terrorism, Belouan added.
For the analyst, the initiative is unlike other proposals suggested by other regional and international actors as it does not only count or bid for stability but also seeks to contribute to continental and regional socio-economic growth and infrastructure development while boosting bilateral ties.
Belouan argued that a key ingredient in the challenges facing the continent is its failure to fully and intelligently exploit its assets, namely human and natural resources, to reach self-sufficiency and the development needed.
“This initiative shows how cooperation is strategic, reflecting Morocco’s diplomatic commitment towards a win-win policy despite the skepticism adopted by parties hostile to Moroccan territorial integrity,” the analyst stressed.
Launched as part of the Rabat Process, the African Atlantic States initiative has been making progress, including the establishment of its secretariat, the creation of three thematic groups as well as the adoption of an action program.
The mechanisms seek to tackle key issues, including political and security dialogue, blue economy, and environmental sustainability.
This week in New York-based UN headquarters, Morocco reiterated the importance of the initiative – emphasizing its goal to empower African countries to take control of their own development paths.
Speaking in New York on Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita said the Atlantic initiative aims to promote peace, stability, and shared prosperity across the African Atlantic region.
It does not only target the region’s potential in areas such as tourism and mineral resources but also addresses significant challenges, including terrorism, climate change, the overexploitation of marine resources as well as others, he stressed.
For Bourita, the region’s alarming security situation requires coordinated efforts from both African and global partners.
“By coordinating our complementary initiatives, we will better serve the interests of the Atlantic community, advancing shared prosperity and stability,” he noted, reinforcing Morocco’s commitment to building a strong, mutually beneficial partnership to achieve these common objectives.
Zaher Badr Alazrak, a political analyst and professor at the Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences in Mohammedia, stressed that Afro-African cooperation is no longer a “luxury, but a necessity for African countries.
There were attempts at such a comprehensive and genuine front of regional and continental solidarity during the creation of ECOWAS, Arab Maghreb Union, the African Union, all of which did not lead to the realization of sustainable goals and economic integration due to political reasons.
In particular, he mentioned tensions between Morocco and Algeria, arguing that such conflicts have continued to hamper the emergence of a genuine spirit of solidarity and fraternity among African countries. The failure of the Arab Maghreb Union project is an eloquent illustration of the political instability and other challenges that the lack of real regional and continental cooperation can create across Africa, Alazrak suggested.
As countries all over Africa face similar development challenges while grappling with a “great deal of risk-associated amplification and global powers’ competition towards the African continent,” the analyst said, there is an urgent need for thinking collectively about solutions to take the continent out of the current cycle of political and institutional failures.
Alazrak further mentioned challenges hampering unification attempts, including brain drain, which he says has perpetuated the continent’s centuries-long cycle of attrition through the exploitation of its riches.
Morocco’s Atlantic Initiative has several dimensions, including strengthening security and the stability of the area amid threats that the region faces, including terrorism and separatism.
Another dimension is the establishment of an economic partnership between countries on the Atlantic coast, the analyst said, citing good bilateral ties Morocco enjoys with continental partners like Nigeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Gabon, and others.
One of the critical principles of Morocco’s initiative is the pursuit of international partnerships, whether with countries in the Global South or North, or with multilateral organizations.
Notably, the initiative capitalized on its cooperation with the Atlantic Center of Portugal, an initiative that brings together over 20 countries to address pressing issues like maritime piracy, transnational crime, and climate change, in addition to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
The partnership shows the growing recognition that global challenges require global solutions and Africa could play a crucial role in tackling these issues.
One key point that observers see as necessary for the success of the initiative is the involvement of various ministerial departments.
Notably, the process saw the engagement of ministerial activities including the recent meeting of Ministers of Justice held this year in April in Rabat.
The meeting saw the launch of the Forum of Ministers of Justice, a key platform seeking to strengthen legal and judicial cooperation among African Atlantic States.
The forum emphasized the need for coordinated legal frameworks to ensure security and development in the region, further cementing the African Atlantic space as a one of opportunity and cooperation.
Through cooperation, the region has the potential to position itself as a powerful hub of global interconnection, breaking free from isolation and emerging as a key player in the world’s economic and security landscape.
