World Has Chosen Club Diplomacy To Come up with Solutions to Challenges of Pandemic, FM

The world has chosen club diplomacy to come up with solutions to the challenges of the pandemic, said foreign minister Nasser Bourita, underlining that, in turn, instead of the collective, coordinated recovery the world’s people hoped for, “we are now in the midst of a world that is more unequal than ever.” While vaccination should be universal and equitable, some countries vaccinate more than all of Africa. While access to immunization should be an equalizer, vaccines in the South are not recognized in the North, said Bourita at the Midterm Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement of Baku (July 13-14). It is in this context that Morocco, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, decided to draw lessons from the pandemic by generalizing access to social protection and health coverage for the benefit of the entire population and by initiating a project of local manufacturing of anti-Covid and other vaccines, for the benefit of our country but also for all African countries, noted the minister. This will not only ensure Morocco’s health sovereignty but also allow it to export vaccines towards other African countries, hereby strengthening its vocation as a provider of health security in the Continent, he added. The minister explained that Morocco decided to work towards a new agenda for international public goods and in particular the international health security regime, recalling the Kingdom’s preparatory work with the Republic of Rwanda, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank for the holding of the Ministerial Conference on Health Security Diplomacy and Emergency Preparedness. Placing the NAM at the center of multilateral efforts to address global challenges means not only addressing new threats such as those posed by the pandemic, but also responding to old challenges related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Libyan crisis, said Bourita. For the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco reaffirms the rights of the Palestinian people to the creation of an independent State within the borders of the June 4, 1967, with Eastern Al Quds as its capital, he said, deeming that this meeting can be the opportunity “for us to renew our commitment to relaunch the peace process and to start meaningful negotiations with a view to building a just and lasting peace within the framework of the two-state solution.” Within the framework of His Majesty King Mohammed VI’s Chairmanship of the Al Quds Committee, Bourita affirmed that Morocco also considers it imperative to preserve the legal status of Al Quds as well as the character of the Holy City as a space of peaceful coexistence between the believers of the three monotheistic religions, stressing the need to refrain from any unilateral action that could lead to escalations and tensions. On Libya, the Minister assured that Morocco remains fully committed, upon the High Instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, to lay the foundations for durable stability in Libya, to which the Kingdom is tied by a common history and a common destiny. In this respect, the Kingdom supports the efforts of the Libyan people and the legitimate Libyan institutions to prepare the next elections, as a further step towards lasting stability, he underscored. Placing the Non-Aligned Movement at the center of multilateral efforts to address global challenges is about: building broad coalitions; overcoming ideological divides and age-old dogmas to move towards an action-oriented and results-based multilateralism that focuses on practicable solutions; and putting the principle of equity at the heart of all the endeavors of the multilateral system to build back better, he noted. Grounded in the values of international solidarity and justice that presided over its creation, the Non-Aligned Movement holds a distinctive advantage to serve as the catalyzer of the reform of world order in the post-COVID era, noted the minister, underlining that Morocco stands ready to work with the member States of the Non-Aligned Movement to fulfill these objectives.