Rabat: In a speech combining vision and action, His Majesty King Mohammed VI laid out the foundations of next-generation reforms to ensure socio-economic development-an approach hailed by French political scientist Christophe Boutin as one that benefits all.

According to Agence Marocaine De Presse, the Royal Speech highlights the need to ensure that the focus is not solely on major structural projects such as railways, ports, or highways, which are necessary and have local impacts, but to go further in terms of local development. Boutin, a public law professor at the University of Caen, emphasized the importance of addressing social and spatial disparities, with the Sovereign advocating for new local development programs to achieve territorial and inter-regional equity.

Boutin explained that these programs cannot be imposed by the central state but must be supported by it while being built on local specificities. His Majesty the King reminds us that Morocco’s development should be based on its territorial and human diversity.

Regarding the foreign policy aspect of the Speech, Boutin noted that in this troubled period marked by the multiplication of global conflicts, the Sovereign’s outstretched hand toward the Algerian people is “a gesture of peace and hope.” While others seek to pit peoples against one another and fan the flames, this is a renewed attempt at pacification.

He concluded that at a time when more member states of the international community are supporting the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative for its Sahara, and when one can hope to see a consensus emerge on the issue, the Sovereign’s speech is a call to turn the page on a conflict that has persisted for far too long.