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Rabat – Morocco supports the idea of a “pragmatic, uninhibited, flexible” multilateralism, “based on knowledge of facts and solidarity,” said Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita.
“Morocco has fully adhered to all initiatives aimed at adapting the multilateral system to the complexity of the challenges of the contemporary world,” said Bourita during a virtual ministerial meeting of the Alliance for Multilateralism on Friday, June 26.
The Alliance for Multilateralism, created in 2019 with the initiative of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, is an informal alliance bringing together over 60 countries from all continents.
Morocco has never ceased to defend “solidarity-based” multilateralism and to call for special attention to the particular challenges facing Africa, Bourita stressed.
The Moroccan diplomat recalled King Mohammed VI’s initiative to call on African leaders to establish an operational framework for African cooperation in the different phases of managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the royal initiative, Morocco has sent donations of medical protective equipment and consumables to more than 15 countries, Bourita added, qualifying the act as a “concrete manifestation of solidarity” with fellow African countries.
The initiative “is a proof of the capacity of the African continent to meet its own challenges by itself,” the minister said.
The COVID-19 pandemic is entering a “complex phase in which the exhilaration of a return to normality, the legitimate fears of a second wave, and questions about the emerging multilateral system are mixed together,” Bourita continued. He stressed the need to lay the foundations for a new multilateral order that is “coherent and flexible” to deal with the complexity of emerging threats, including pandemics.
Tackling the issue of health security, Bourita announced that Morocco will organize in Marrakech, in collaboration with Rwanda, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank, the first High Level Meeting on Diplomacy for Health Security and Emergency Preparedness.
The event, placed under the patronage of King Mohammed VI and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, will aim to lay the foundation for a new system of international health security based on consistent decisions and pooled resources.
The Moroccan diplomat also expressed his country’s support for the initiative launched by Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Teodoro Ribera Neumann, aimed at setting up a new flexible legal instrument to ensure health security for all.
Morocco stands ready to contribute to the initiative by sharing its national experience in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, Bourita said.
At the end of his remarks, the Moroccan official called for vigilance to preserve the achievements made so far.
“As affinity states, we must remain vigilant not to dissipate efforts and to preserve the effectiveness and the coherence of collective action, with the ultimate objective of building the capacities of the UN,” Bourita concluded.
