The Atlantic Initiative for the Sahel launched by King Mohammed VI of Morocco was presented at a ministerial meeting, held in New York Monday, under the chairmanship of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
During the meeting, held under the theme “Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation,” Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita made a presentation on the Royal ambitious cooperation initiative, launched in 2022, with the aim of promoting peace, stability, and shared prosperity in the Atlantic African region.
The goal of the Royal initiative is to enable African countries to take ownership of their development process, he stated, recalling that the 23 Atlantic African coast are home to 70% of the African population, and account for 40% of inter-African trade.
This region, which is rich in potential and opportunities in key sectors such as tourism and mineral resources, also faces enormous challenges. Terrorism, climate change, maritime insecurity, and overfishing are destabilizing factors in the region, Bourita said during the meeting, attended by several other ministers from both sides of the Atlantic.
The Moroccan official who praised the many important steps taken by Atlantic African countries to strengthen the cooperation framework of the initiative, recalled that a secretariat has been established in Rabat, an action program has been adopted, and a Forum of Justice Ministers has been created.
In this context, he noted that action plans from the three thematic groups, which include concrete actions in the areas of security, the blue economy, connectivity, energy, and climate change, will be developed during an upcoming ministerial meeting of these states.
Bourita also welcomed the dynamic of cooperation in all regions of the Atlantic, both South and North, noting that the Process of Atlantic African States, as an expression of the African vision of cooperation for this space, is committed to strengthening partnerships with other initiatives to create a stable, prosperous, and resilient Atlantic region. Morocco firmly believes that a strong and mutually beneficial partnership is essential to support the achievement of common goals through effective cooperation mechanisms, he emphasized.
“Through coordinated efforts between our initiatives, which are complementary to each other, we will be able to better serve the interests of the Atlantic community to promote shared prosperity and stability,” Bourita said.
He praised in this vein Washington’s efforts to bring together Atlantic countries from all continents around common goals, expressing his belief that no country or continent can tackle Atlantic challenges alone. “Morocco is pleased to have actively contributed to the U.S. initiative by co-leading, along with Angola and Spain, the Working Group on Marine Spatial Planning,” the Moroccan top diplomat stated further.