Morocco Emphasizes AU’s Regional Integration, Socio-Economic Development

Morocco emphasized the importance of regional integration and socio-economic development in Africa during a retreat of the African Union’s Permanent Representatives Committee held in Addis Ababa on Friday. Ambassador Mohamed Arrouchi, the Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the African Union and UNECA, addressed the retreat via videoconference, reiterating the necessity of establishing regional integration and socio-economic development as fundamental elements for realizing the goals of the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Arrouchi also highlighted that the first Ten-Year Plan for the implementation of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 is set to conclude in 2024. The evaluation of this plan, conducted as part of the Agenda’s special project, has identified several lessons that should be considered when formulating the priorities for the second Ten-Year Plan. The assessment of the first Ten-Year Plan has shown that the aspirations, objectives, and priority areas of Agenda 2063 remain highly relevant for Africa’s integration and socio-economic development, emphasized the Moroccan diplomat. “Morocco welcomes the progress made in implementing the first ten-year plan of our continental development program, and salutes the considerable effort made by African states and all the players involved during the first decade,” added Arrouchi. Arrouchi took the opportunity to reiterate that the Moroccan experience, particularly based on aligning the objectives of Agenda 2063 with those of Agenda 2030, has enabled significant progress toward achieving a substantial portion of Agenda 2063’s goals and targets. Morocco presently possesses various opportunities to expedite the implementation of Agenda 2063. This includes the introduction of a new development model and a fresh generation of sectoral strategies and programs whose vision and objectives harmonize completely with the aspirations and objectives of Agenda 2063,” affirmed the Moroccan diplomat.