Rabat – HM King Mohammed VI’s international initiative to enable Atlantic Ocean access for Sahel States is part of the Kingdom’s efforts for a prosperous Africa and offers unprecedented opportunities to promote regional integration and cooperation, while developing “a structural transformation of Sahel economies”, news portal ‘Madar21’ notes.
The Royal Initiative’s implementation promotes an innovative and integrated approach to strengthen the stability and security of the region as a whole, Madar21 underlines, adding that it is an innovative platform to achieve the kingdom’s economic take-off via its Atlantic coast, while taking into consideration the neighborhood which includes not only Mauritania and Senegal, but also Sahel countries which took part in the ministerial coordination meeting, held last Saturday in Marrakech (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad).
The news portal notes, citing “informed sources”, that Morocco’s objectives, with regard to Sahel countries, have already been, in large part, achi
eved with its southern neighbors, particularly Mauritania with fruitful economic relations, notably through trade exchanges between the ports of Agadir, Dakhla and Nouadhibou.
‘Mauritania and Senegal did not attend the Marrakech meeting due to their different geographical positions from Sahel countries that do not have access to the Atlantic Ocean,’ Madar21’s informed sources say, underlining that “these two countries are strongly involved in the Royal strategy which will integrate them into the new momentum in the region”.
Mauritania and Senegal enjoy privileged relations with Morocco and will have a significant presence within the Royal Initiative to strengthen Sahel countries’ access to the Atlantic Ocean, the same source underlines.
HM King Mohammed VI’s international initiative to enable Atlantic Ocean access for Sahel States has the potential to unleash the great potential of coastal partners, thus accelerating growth and the sustainable and inclusive development of regional economies, President of t
he Moroccan Center for Strategic Studies and International Relations, Mohsen Nadwi, says.
This strategic initiative will therefore contribute to the ‘take-off of a new, strong and bold Africa, which will defend its own interests and exercise influence on the international stage,’ he adds.
Like its Mediterranean coast, the kingdom’s Atlantic coast represents the door to Africa, as well as a window to America via investment in various Atlantic-African projects, in particular the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline, considered as a regional integration project, Nadwi notes.
Source: Agency Morocaine De Presse
Pope Francis today called for an end to the Israeli military operations in Gaza that killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, mainly children, and for a solution to the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
“I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid,” the Pope told the thousands who gathered in Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican to hear his Christmas message.
He called for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “through sincere and persevering dialogue between the parties, sustained by strong political will and the support of the international community.”
In his Christmas Eve message the day before, Pope Francis also called for peace in the Holy Land.
“Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him
from finding room in the world,” he said.
Christmas was canceled in Bethlehem in solidarity with the people in the Gaza Strip who have been suffering under relentless Israeli bombardment for 80 straight days that killed 20,258 civilians and wounded 53,688 others, more than 70 percent of them were children and women, as well as the destruction of more than 80 percent of the homes.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA