Participants in the Parliamentary Conference on South-South Cooperation held in Rabat Feb.15-16 expressed hailed King Mohammed VI’s initiative to enhance access to the Atlantic Ocean for Sahel nations.
The participants, representing national parliaments and parliamentary unions from Arab, African, and Latin American nations, commended the international initiative of King Mohammed VI aimed at promoting access of Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean.
“We commend and welcome the international initiative of His Majesty King Mohammed VI aimed at promoting access of Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean, and emphasize the urgent need to address substantial infrastructure and investment in the Atlantic region of Africa,” said the Speakers and members of the Association of Senates, Shoora, and Equivalent Councils in Africa and Arab world (ASSECAA), and representatives of Regional and Continental Parliamentary Unions in Africa, the Arab World and Latin American in the Final Declaration adopted by the conference.
They lauded in the Final Declaration the pioneering role played by Morocco, under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, in launching and supporting all development and solidarity initiatives aimed at sustaining South-South cooperation.
The Atlantic Initiative, which aims to establish a robust institutional framework bringing together the 23 countries of the continent bordering the Atlantic Ocean, will position Morocco’s Atlantic coast as a pivotal hub for bolstering logistical connectivity among the countries of the South by both maritime and air routes, they stressed.
Enhanced logistical connections are poised to facilitate the exchange of goods, optimize investment flows in Southern countries, and bring production chains closer to sources of wealth and raw materials, particularly within the Afro-Arab-Latin American geo-economic space, which hosts a variety of resources and raw materials.
Furthermore, the parliamentarians called for drawing inspiration from such initiatives to bolster South-South coordination, cooperation, and solidarity among African, Arab, Latin American, and Caribbean nations.
This collaboration would extend to various domains including sovereignty, energy, food and health security, economic exchanges, sustainable development, as well as developing institutional channels for ongoing coordination and dialogue.
The participants also emphasized the critical need to address significant infrastructural deficits and investments in the African Atlantic region.
African parliamentarians attending the conference commended Morocco’s leading role in promoting and strengthening South-South cooperation and highlighted the Sovereign’s commitment and unconditional support for the integration and development of both the continent and the countries of the South.
They stressed the importance of South-South cooperation in meeting the challenges facing these countries, including poverty, food insecurity, climate change and armed conflict.
Attending Arab MPs on their part underscored Morocco’s continuous endeavors to strengthen the climate of understanding and dialogue between brotherly and friendly countries in order to realize the aspirations of peoples for further security, stability and prosperity. The Kingdom also endeavors to establish the best strategic partnerships to help accelerate economic development, they said.
The conference was held under the theme “The Role of National Parliaments and Regional and Continental Parliamentary Unions in Africa, the Arab World, and Latin America in Promoting Strategic Partnerships and Achieving Integration and Common Development.”
It brought together over 260 participants from 40 countries, including 30 Speakers of national parliaments and regional and continental parliamentary unions from Africa, the Arab world, Latin America, and the Caribbean.