Royal Vision: Morocco Prioritizes Cooperation with Least Developed Countries – Hilale

Morocco places cooperation with the least developed countries, especially African and island countries, at the top of its foreign policy priorities, in accordance with the vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, in terms of South-South cooperation, said Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Omar Hilale. The Kingdom is keen to provide solidarity support to these countries by implementing a series of measures to develop projects and programs in many areas, as well as the establishment of industrial units dedicated to the production of vaccines and fertilizer production plants, which can contribute to strengthening the health system and food security in Africa, said Hilale in an intervention on the occasion of the 5th UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5). In this context, Morocco has undertaken a number of initiatives, including facilitating the access of exports from African least developed countries to the Moroccan market, as well as facilitating the enrollment of African students in universities and vocational training institutions in the Kingdom, while granting them scholarships, in addition to regularizing the situation of about 50,000 immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa who have settled in Morocco since 2014, he stressed. With regard to climate and food security, Hilale said that Morocco has taken a number of steps in accordance with a participatory and comprehensive approach, which has contributed to the crystallization of a clear and ambitious African vision to face the challenges of climate change. In this regard, he recalled the support of the three committees launched on the occasion of the African Climate Summit, held at the invitation of His Majesty King Mohammed VI on the sidelines of COP22 in Marrakech in 2016. Hilale highlighted the Triple A initiative launched to adapt African agriculture to climate change, which currently involves 38 African countries and several development and financial partners. It is also, he continued, the Triple S initiative, in partnership with Senegal, to establish stability and security in Africa, in addition to the two initiatives of access to sustainable energy and the Climate Center for African Youth, which will be launched on the sidelines of the Climate Summit in 2019. Hilale also referred to the OCP initiative, which allocates 4 million tonnes of fertilizer for the benefit of African farmers in 2023, to meet Africa’s urgent needs for this vital substance. He stressed that Morocco, under the leadership of His Majesty the King, has demonstrated its constant values of solidarity with sister African countries and its firm commitment to support them during the exceptional circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, he highlighted the initiative to provide aid in the form of medicines and means of protection and prevention to some twenty African countries.