In a message delivered on Monday in Nice to the participants in the “Africa for the Ocean” Summit, co-chaired by Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, representative of His Majesty the King, and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Sovereign emphasized that the blue economy is not an ecological luxury, but a strategic necessity.
“Sustainable aquaculture, offshore renewable energies, port industries, marine biotechnologies, responsible coastal tourism… All these sectors have a promising future provided they are structured, interconnected, designed as value chains, and backed up by substantial investment and appropriate standards,” the Sovereign stressed in His message read out by HRH Princess Lalla Hasnaa, noting that this is the very essence of the National Strategy wanted and deployed by Morocco as a real engine for growth, social inclusion and human development.
To this end, HM the King recalled the large-scale projects implemented by the Kingdom of Morocco, which have reshaped the country’s port landscape, in particular, like the large Tanger Med container port and the future ports of Nador West-Med and Dakhla Atlantic, both of which will build on an impressive logistics and industrial ecosystem.
Regarding the second axis on South-South cooperation and regional integration around oceanic spaces, the Sovereign underlined that a joint effort is needed because the challenge is not just national, but rather continental.
“It is not enough to share an ocean. We need to think about it together, manage it together, defend it together,” the Sovereign said, underscoring that “only a concerted African approach can optimize maritime value chains, secure trade routes and capture a more equitable share of the world’s ocean wealth.”
This is why Africa should be fully engaged in the protection of marine biodiversity, genetic resources and marine protected areas, the Sovereign continued, noting that the African continent must have maritime safety mechanisms adapted to its needs and must, from now on, speak with one voice on the global ocean scene.
Concerning maritime effectiveness through Atlantic synergies, HM the King highlighted that geopolitical dynamics in Africa must not suffer from the inertia of geography, nor from the burdens of the past, recalling that Africa’s Atlantic seaboard has long been a particularly neglected space, notwithstanding its infinite potential in terms of opening up the continent, and promoting trade as well as Africa’s positioning on the global scene.
“With that in mind, I launched the Atlantic African States Initiative, which aims to turn this coastline into a platform for strategic dialogue, collective security, mobility and economic integration, using a new form of governance that is collegial, rallying and pragmatic,” the Sovereign pointed out, affirming that the Royal Vision of an Atlantic Africa that makes the most of this ocean involves not just the coastal countries, but also the sister countries of the Sahel, which should be offered a structured, reliable maritime outlet.
“It is also in the same spirit of solidarity and shared prosperity that I initiated the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline project as an energy interconnection corridor and a lever for new geo-economic opportunities in West Africa,” HM the King added.
After emphasizing the richness and vulnerability of African seas and oceans, the Sovereign noted that the environment is a key element of ocean governance, but it is not its only facet.
“The ocean is also about our food sovereignty, our climate resilience, our energy security and our territorial cohesion,” HM the King stressed, underscoring that “it is about who we are, what we consume, what we exploit and, consequently, what we shall hand down to others.”
The ocean is, and will remain “a link, a shared space which we must protect and turn into an area that promotes peace, stability and development,” the Sovereign emphasized, underlining that Africa – a continent never stronger than when it speaks with one voice – is at the heart of this ambitious project.
With its 3,500 kilometers of coastline, and some 1.2 million square kilometers of maritime space, Morocco resolutely commits to playing its part in this collective endeavor, HM the King concluded.
Editorial team/le7tv