‘Morocco will add value to continent’

The return of the Royal Kingdom of Morocco to its institutional family, the African Union (AU), and the country’s admission to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are the results of Morocco's constantly renewed concerns to work hand in hand with the continent's countries to develop and preserve its dignity and ensure its prosperity.

This return is not an end in itself, as it aims at bringing substantial added value to the African continent, through the action of its multilateral institutions and bilateral relations initiated with a large number of countries.

The Moroccan Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Hamid Chabar, disclosed these in his address at a reception to mark the 18th anniversary of the ascension to the throne by His Majesty King Mohamed VI at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra last Sunday.

He said Africa occupied a central place in the foreign policy of the Kingdom of Morocco and recalled that since his accession to the throne in July 1999, “the King of the Kingdom of Morocco has paid 52 visits to the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, and 26 of these visits targeted West African countries.”

King Mohamed VI

In the past nine months, he said King Mohamed VI had for the first time visited eight countries in Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, as well as in West Africa; including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Madagascar, Zambia, Nigeria and Ghana.

“These various visits have enabled the launch of many concrete cooperation projects in various fields such as training, food security and infrastructural development,” he noted.

The Ambassador said the Moroccan diplomatic network in Africa had currently been increased to 30 embassies covering all countries of the continent.

Mr Chabar emphasised that as President of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Marrakech in November 2016, Morocco ensured an African summit on the impact of climate change on the continent. The summit brought together 30 African heads of state and governments.

Similarly, as co-Chair of the Global Forum for Migration and Development, he said Morocco placed Africa among its priorities regarding the issues of migration.

“Morocco has successfully initiated and led a courageous and innovative policy in the management of migration flows, which has led to the regularisation of the situation of more than 30,000 illegal migrants mainly from the continent. In its capacity as co-Chair of the Global Forum on the Fight against Terrorism, Morocco continues to draw attention on the importance of anticipating the evolution of terrorist threat on the African continent,” he added.

He said Morocco's expertise in this field had been recognised today by all and consisted not only of sharing and exchanging information, but also in training and the provision of appropriate logistic means for the countries involved, adding that the country also contributes to the United Nations peacekeeping operations by sending military contingents to different areas on the continent.

Second largest African investor

Ambassador Chabar announced that “Morocco is the second largest African investor on the continent and the first largest investor of the ECOWAS region.”

Concretely, he said 63 per cent of Moroccan foreign investments were directed towards the continent, while the Moroccan private sector was very active in more than 25 countries.

He mentioned the Moroccan economic action in Africa, which combined regional structured projects with small ones, saying they have a strong socio-economic impact and citing the Atlantic pipeline project to connect Nigeria with Morocco which will cross 11 West African countries and the construction of large fertiliser plants in some countries of the continent to serve as green growth drivers in their respective sub-regions to contribute to food security on the continent.

The ambassador announced that a new Moroccan shipping line had recently been launched and it will be linking Morocco to all West African ports.

Mr Chabar noted that “2017 is, undoubtedly, an important step in the process of consolidating relations between Morocco and Ghana.”

He commended Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo for his full commitment towards enhancing bilateral ties.

Response

Responding to the speech by Ambassador Chabar, the Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, expressed appreciation to the Kingdom of Morocco for regularising the stay of Ghanaian migrants living illegally in Morocco and increasing the number of student scholarships granted to Ghanaians from 45 to 70.

He was confident that the readmission of Morocco to the AU would add value to the continent.

Dr Osei said the relations between Ghana and Morocco dated back to the liberation struggle in Africa, when the founding fathers of the two countries teamed up in the fight against colonial rule.

“Our bilateral relations reached a significant milestone in February 2017 with the State Visit of His Majesty King Mohamed VI and the signing of 24 bilateral Agreements/MoUs in both the private and public sectors. It is our hope that the terms of these agreements will be translated into reality for the mutual benefits of our two countries,” he added.