King Mohammed’s tour in Africa with new patterns for Post-MDGs development implementations in the continent

By African Bulletin on February 17, 2014

Moroccan monarch King Mohammed VI will begin his tour on February18, by visiting successively Mali, Guinea Conakry, Cote d’Ivoire and Gabon.

The repeated visits of King Mohammed VI to African countries had impressed international Media organs and bring them to admit that the quality and the objectives of the Moroccan monarch’s visit goes beyond just traditional relationships between the kingdoms and other African countries.

Experts and observers had unanimously admitted the special character of this visit by which the King of Morocco inaugurated the year 2014.

This Visit combines effectively between conventional goals aimed to strength established historical relations, and between the values of solidarity, South-South with a significant reference to the latest version of concepts of Post MDG’s (development millennium goals), especially the concept of sustainable security vs sustainable development as an associated mechanism for the progress of the continent.

The current visit of the Moroccan monarch carries the full four fold of this conception:

– contributing to maintain the stability and security at both domestic and regional level,

– reinforcing diplomatic cooperation

– And the will to support the human development for grass-roots communities through more cost-effective investments that create new opportunities, prevent crises and better manage our shared challenges.

And as political scientists used to say, the four most important elements is the recurrence/ repeated actions; as a key mechanism to bypass the folkloric characters of initiatives that lack of follow-up.

The Moroccan King’s repeated visits to different regions of the continent since 1999, were always identified by its aims to strengthen political and economic cooperation, combined with profoundly human keen to provide support and assistance for the better life of African neighbors and brothers and share required expertise that could be at the disposal of African governments, private enterprises and leading NGOs.

In February 2006, King Mohammed VI visited Gambia, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The tour was preceded in February 2005 by a trip to Gabon, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, in June 2004 in Benin, Gabon, Cameroon, Niger and Senegal. In September 2013 King Mohammed visited Mali to take part in the inauguration ceremony of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Morocco is determined to promote openness and democracy and to bring about peace and security to the whole continent. Therefore, the degrading security environment in several places of the continent required such spirit of associating sustainable development to sustainable security.

In recent years, Morocco is located in the economically developed countries where greater cooperation in the fields of banking, telecommunications, housing, commerce and industry. It also offers its expertise in infrastructure, public health, roads and education. It also gives a great interest in national education by offering fellowships to African students.

Morocco is determined to establish real win-win partnerships with African countries, a new axis for peace and economic prosperity. Economic interests and geo-political considerations account for much of Moroccan royal’s diplomatic offensive.

And the most wonderful piece of the story is that the Moroccan Monarch King Mohammed VI’s actions for the developments of Africa are closely attached to the kingdom’s initiative of Human development to set up its new prosper Morocco. This value is derived in fact from assets of deep Islamic values ; “No man is a true believer unless he desires for his brother that, what he desires for himself.”.

The value fits perfectly with the King Mohammed VI in his capacity as Commander of the Faithful.

Morocco has always voiced openly its keen interest to establish a powerful partnership with African countries. With this new vision Morocco has become a leading continental power that will guarantee economic dynamism, security and stability in the African continent

Morocco is strengthening its political, economic and spiritual presence in Africa. This royal vision will certainly contribute efficiently to a stable and prosperous Africa that will become more and more economically attractive to foreign investors.

Morocco’s political influence is growing and so is the trust of the states it is working with. The kingdom keeps defending African’s cause, either directly, thanks to its participation in different operations to maintain peace or either indirectly, supporting, in all of the international summits, sustained efforts for human and social development in the sub-Saharan area.

Morocco prioritizes South-South cooperation. The King took the initiative to cancel the debt of very poor African countries. This decision was only the beginning of a long-term economic strategy to get back to the suitable position it occupied in the African diplomatic landscape. To reinforce its economic leverage in the area, Morocco is settling human and social development projects. The private sector participation is also a relevant asset of its policy. Several Moroccan public or private companies have established themselves in sub-Saharan Africa to invest in sectors that could foster some countries growth, such as banking sector, as Attijari wafabank is present in Senegal and Mali, finance sector with CDG and the group Chaabi in Ivory Coast, Mali, and Guinea, or even telecommunication sector thanks to Maroc Télécom that owns communication companies in Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. The Moroccan main phosphate company OCP uses all of its knowledge and experience in agri-food industry to favour food security in the area. The exportation of its renewable energy model is also very important, as it is a decisive innovation that will influence positively on the countries suffering from frequent power and water cuts.

This new royal diplomatic strategy has opened new doors for the Moroccan-American and Moroccan-European partnership to fight terrorism but mostly to promote economic prosperity for many African countries. In each of these cases, Africa must lead and Morocco will help. And Morocco will make no apology for supporting African efforts to end conflict and stand up for human dignity.

Morocco has taken an engagement not just on security issues in sub-Saharan Africa, but on environmental issues — and economic issues and social issues, education issues. King Mohammed will certainly take that engagement to a whole new level.

Featured