28th APF Regional Assembly: Lower House Speaker Calls for Acting As United Bloc to Defend Africa’s Cause

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The Speaker of the House of Representatives (Lower House), Rachid Talbi Alami, stressed, Thursday in Rabat, the need for African parliamentarians to act as a united block to defend the cause of Africa. “It is more necessary than ever to act as a united block that speaks with one voice and is able to influence the international scene,” said Talbi Alami at the opening of the 28th Regional Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie (APF). “Our unity as parliamentarians members of the APF and as Africans will allow us to advocate effectively the cause of Africa, by preaching global solidarity against narrow nationalism and by ending the exclusion of certain populations or regions from the benefits of progress,” he said. According to Talbi El Alami, the APF brings together parliamentarians of the French-speaking world and provides them with a space to exchange on what unites them. “This genuine formula has enabled us since 1967 to be the spokespersons for the right to difference, peaceful coexistence, solidarity and human rights in their broadest sense, based on a common linguistic reference,” the Lower House Speaker said. According to the Moroccan MP, It would be unrealistic to speak of stability and development if Africa is not free from the many pressing challenges, including the threat of terrorism and violent extremism, the resurgence of unconstitutional changes of government, or the various impacts of global warming. Talbi Alami also called for remaining optimistic and trying to see this multidimensional crisis as a chance to give new meaning to multilateralism and international solidarity, which are principles at the heart of the action of the Francophonie. The Moroccan Parliament hosts until June 24 in Rabat, this regional assembly that covers several topics including democracy; the Free Trade Area of Africa (FTAA); women’s participation in political, economic and social life; the involvement of parliamentarians of French-speaking Africa in environmental issues and climate change as well as the political, social and health situation in French-speaking African countries. The participants shall also examine the activity report of the regional assembly and the restructuring of the leadership positions of the African region within the APF bodies in preparation for the 47th Session in Kigali (July 2022). Founded in 1967, the APF seeks to reflect the multiculturalism of the French-speaking world and its people. It brings together delegates from nearly 90 parliaments or interparliamentary organizations on five continents. The Moroccan Parliament joined the APF in 1979 and has hosted the works of some regional assemblies in Africa (19th in 2011, 25th in 2017, and 27th in 2019).