At a scientific symposium in Salé, “Academicians and research professors highlight the forward-looking royal vision for the development of the African Atlantic Coast countries.”
Last Thursday, at the Said Hajji Cultural Complex in Salé, the Noble Goals Association organized a scientific symposium that studied and analyzed the topic “The Atlantic Initiative for Morocco...a royal forward-looking vision for the future of the peoples bordering the Atlantic Ocean and strengthening Africa’s position in the global economy and security.” With the participation of a group of academics, professors, and researchers specialized in The fields of geography, development policies, security, and African affairs...
Abdel Aziz Malouk, President of the Noble Goals Association, opened the symposium with a profound speech in which he recorded, “…. The birth of an integration initiative on the Atlantic-African front is not the result of a coincidence or a mere stroke of luck. Rather, it is a Moroccan royal bet, principles, investment and outlook for the future of the peoples overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the strengthening of Africa’s position in the global economy and security.
Foresight, the implications of which are evident in the interest of many actors in this regional space to build common ground and an open platform for cooperation, dialogue and exchange, and to enhance the competitive capabilities of the 23 countries concerned in order to move with the effectiveness and dynamism required to make the African Atlantic coast a source of security solutions and economic and investment opportunities within the framework of an economic trend called the ocean economy... “.
In his valuable intervention under the title (The importance of the Royal Atlantic Initiative... in addressing irregular migration and eliminating terrorism in sub-Saharan countries), academic geographer Hassan Abiaba, head of the Ibn Battuta Center for Scientific and Strategic Studies and Research and the former minister, stressed that the royal initiative came in the anniversary speech. The 48th Green March, in which His Majesty stressed that this occasion is a confirmation of the historical link between Morocco and Africa, and the connection of the southern regions of Morocco with the countries of the African-Atlantic coast, as Abiaba pointed out that the Moroccan Constitution of 2011, in its promulgation, referred to (…strengthening relations of cooperation and solidarity with African peoples and countries). , especially with the countries of the Sahel and sub-Saharan...), which indicates that His Majesty the King has implemented the Moroccan constitution at the African level. Abiaba considered Morocco’s return to the institutional embrace of the African Union in 2017 a strong return, additional value, and great proposing power that culminated in the Royal Atlantic Initiative. He recalled that the Moroccan King Mohammed VI had confirmed that launching the Atlantic Initiative at the international level, whose goal was to enable the Sahel countries to access the Atlantic Ocean. His Majesty firmly believes in the importance of South-South cooperation. On the African continent, this assertion was repeated in the royal message on the occasion of the 15th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which began today, Saturday, May 4, in the Gambian capital, Banjul, under the slogan “Promoting unity and solidarity through dialogue for sustainable development.” Morocco also sought by all means to possible to support the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project, which is in line with the strategic objectives of cooperation and joint solidarity between Morocco and the African peoples, because part of it passes through a group of Atlantic coastal countries, and considering this project as a goal in regional integration and joint economic take-off and to encourage the dynamism of development on the Atlantic strip,
to confront Increasing threats to its energy and food security and economic growth.
Abiaba also stressed that many of the leaders of the African countries concerned with the Atlantic Initiative considered the Royal Initiative as a path for a strategic African partnership that aims primarily to strengthen ties of cooperation and integration between the African countries overlooking the Atlantic Ocean for the sake of peace, stability and common sustainable development in the region, and that the Moroccan Atlantic Initiative is It is part of the economic and geopolitical structuring of the African continent, and it does not mean abandoning the Euro-Mediterranean space, but rather it is an integrated, geopolitical joint project linking the European continent to Africa.
The royal initiative also comes in its international context, as interest began five years ago in the African-Atlantic countries internationally, especially by the United States of America, as it appointed a special coordinator for the African-Atlantic Sahel countries in the US State Department, Ambassador Jessie Lapine, and interest also began on the part of Britain and in history. September 18, 2023, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, launched the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, an initiative that anticipates the future of the peoples bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Since the launch of this partnership, many high-level meetings have been held that resulted in the adoption of the Atlantic Cooperation Declaration and the development of a joint action plan. The initiative aims The American call for cooperation with the African-Atlantic countries to overcome common challenges, which are security and economic challenges, and to create integrated development that guarantees the sustainability of the resources of the Atlantic Ocean for future generations, in addition to regional interest from the European Union, China and Russia in the countries of West Africa and the Sahel-Saharan countries.
In the context of his intervention, Dr. Al-Hassan Abiaba said that the Royal Atlantic Initiative was distinguished from the American initiative by adding four African countries landlocked to the Atlantic Ocean countries, so that it becomes 23 + 4 and the total is 27 Atlantic countries, which achieves three important strategic goals:. Expansion of the Atlantic-African countries. Eliminating terrorist groups in these regions by developing these countries. Adding more than 60 million people to the countries of the Atlantic coast, adding about 4 million square kilometers and about 45 billion dollars to the gross product of these countries.
Researcher Professor Mohamed Harakat, President of the International Center for Strategic Studies and Comprehensive Governance, addressed “the geostrategic and geoeconomic depth of the seas, oceans, and logistics, in light of the Moroccan-African-Atlantic initiatives,” opening his intervention by addressing the international and regional context, where the crisis of the global production system emerges, and what he called the militarization of the global economy, The transition from abundance to scarcity, whether in water, energy and job opportunities, the deepening of disparities between the North and the South, the intensification of the struggle between the major powers (led by America and China) over commercial navigation and the adoption of international strategies related to the defense of the seas and oceans, especially since supplies and maritime navigation represent about 90%. From global exchanges. In this context, the Royal Atlantic Initiative comes with goals, the most important of which is economic and social support for Africans, especially since the Atlantic Ocean extends to 23 countries with a strong cargo, representing 46% of the continent’s population, and 55% of the African gross product, which highlights the paramount importance of the Moroccan initiative. As a maritime project that first ensures the means of nutrition and assistance to countries landlocked on the coast that have no access to the sea, in addition to other goals that are no less important at the scientific, cultural, diplomatic and historical levels...
Harakat touched on the mechanisms for implementing the initiative represented by linking Morocco to the production basins of the desert coastal strip, Through linking to attractive ports, especially the Atlantic port of Dakhla, opening up to other continents, financial support to a number of financiers through the Emirati presence, creating an African alliance, and integration into regional and global value chains, all of this requires, in the eyes of the intervener, accelerating the organization and new structure of the maritime fleet and the involvement of scientific competencies specialized in The Blue Marine Economy...
Professor Musa Al-Maliki, President of the African Forum for Development and Geographical and Strategic Research, recorded that African elites and leaders are aware of the importance of this initiative and its goals, through its anticipation of the future of the continent, and an opportunity to reverse the burden of all stumbles attached to it, despite its richness in wealth and natural resources..
The intervener considered that The initiative is established with confidence and confidence in unity, through the Moroccan geo-strategic mind extending over 14 centuries and through Morocco’s battle to build a new, sovereign Africa within a framework of economic, security and political cooperation and integration...
The same speaker recorded that Morocco’s geographical location and ecological diversity with two sea fronts make it Points of strength and resurgence, and it is also a matter of ambitions... We infer this from the damage caused by French colonialism to our country as a result of the carving out of parts of its land to annex them to the French annex of Algeria. (Proposing in this regard a recommendation to create a museum of maps of Morocco and the honorable kingdom over the centuries that constituted it)...
at the level of Another, Dr. Moussa, confirmed that the leaders who succeeded the Moroccans were most wary of the dangers that came from the sea and established their capital far from the sea, like Fez Marrakesh, but King Mohammed VI reversed this equation by promoting development through the sea coast and the maritime dimension, by strengthening the commercial fleet. The sea, the creation of the Tangier Med port, the demarcation of the Moroccan maritime borders, and the 2020 law that allocated huge development programs to the southern regions..
Al-Arid considered that the initiative itself seeks to win over the African elites “through economic support, investments, royal and spiritual visits, military security cooperation, parallel diplomacy, and scientific, educational, digital and cultural cooperation.
For his part, Dr. Abdul Rahim Manar Al-Sulaimi, head of the Atlantic Center for Strategic Studies and Security Analysis,” likened the Royal Atlantic Initiative to a similar project. Marshall to rebuild and develop the countries of West Africa and the Sahel and renew the view of the Atlantic Ocean, as a vital region for trade routes and international relations, so that it possesses 57% of the total African trade. An initiative that comes in the context of translating Morocco as a nation-state with its multidimensional identity, including Mediterranean and African, and after its development of public and development policies in agriculture, banking services, communications, energy, and roads, and its launch of the new development project, and singling out the southern regions with special development programs and others, which makes it qualified. To provide his experience and expertise at the African level.”
What is constant today is that Al-Sulaimi says, “The countries of the African Atlantic Ocean are following the way in which the Kingdom of Morocco is taking the lead and transforming the Atlantic Ocean into a new vital field in the transitional international system, and how it is preparing to connect the North Atlantic with the South African Atlantic and extend the networks of Atlantic relations towards the shores of the Americas, and how The Kingdom of Morocco is building, in partnership with Nigeria, the gas pipeline project that extends across the African Atlantic towards Europe, and that the African Atlantic Ocean countries are following the new approach that Morocco is working with the Sahel countries, and moving it from a region that the world views from the perspective of wars and conflicts and the home of terrorist organizations to a new outlook. It revives the history of Mali, Niger and other Sahel countries, which until the first middle of the twentieth century remained a transit corridor for land trade towards Africa, and a Muslim pilgrimage route towards the Holy Land. This is the image that Morocco is reviving with an economic development approach that opens the way for the Sahel countries to the Guerguerat crossing to go. Towards Europe or West Atlantic Africa and towards the ports of the Atlantic Ocean.”
A. Assoul
Source: websites