Rabat, 04/12/2022 (MAP) – The African youth is an « essential force » for the development of the continent, said, Sunday in Rabat, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rachid Talbi El Alami.
Speaking at the opening of the 2nd Youth Dialogue of the Pan-African Parliament, organized by the Pan-African Parliament and hosted by the Moroccan Parliament, Talbi El Alami said that the African youth and its political elites have « the responsibility for the African renaissance and the construction of a new Africa, the Africa of the future », stressing that they have in the lessons of African history what motivates them to achieve this goal.
In this context, he recalled the speech of His Majesty King Mohammed VI delivered in 2017 to the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, in which the Sovereign had pointed out that « the future of Africa passes through its youth » and stressed « the urgency of directing the demographic dividend towards the emergence of the continent. »
« The unemployment of African youth is one of the continent’s dilemmas that hinders the use of such valuable capital and a phenomenon exploited by terrorist and extremist movements and by supporters of secession, which in turn constitute one of the challenges facing our countries, » said Talbi El Alami.
« The successes achieved by African youth and brains in science, culture and sports are a lesson for all of us, to value the potential of our young people, called to greater civic and political engagement to support state and institutional building and promote democracy on the continent, which must take into account our contexts, our historical conditions, our traditions and our African cultures, » he added, considering that « this process must also be voluntary, wanted and appropriated by the peoples according to the logic of accumulation. »
On the other hand, he assured that « while Africa does not lack agricultural traditions and culture, manpower and skills, it does need in some cases good governance and mainly new technologies, produced by the industrial powers that have the moral and political responsibility to support Africa, based on equitable and institutionalized partnerships, and which also benefit from Africa’s costly primary resources, especially minerals ».
The Speaker of the House of Representatives also noted that « the Kingdom of Morocco is an African agricultural country par excellence that does not hesitate and will never hesitate to put its know-how at the disposal of its African brothers ».
In this regard, he recalled the initiative for the « Adaptation of African Agriculture » known as the « Triple A Initiative », launched by His Majesty the King together with several of his African brothers during COP22, held in November 2016 in Marrakech and « which aims to contribute to meeting the challenge of food security, of which His Majesty has been proactive in considering it the greatest challenge facing the African continent. »
In support of this orientation, Morocco mobilizes « the immense resources » it possesses in fertilization to promote African agriculture through the OCP group projects and greenhouse agriculture in Africa, and « places Moroccan expertise at the disposal of several of its brothers, » he explained.
During this two-day event, participants will discuss several topics, such as « the African Union methodology for youth empowerment and integration » and the two African Union initiatives for the financial and economic integration of women and youth, as well as the « 1 Million Next Level » initiative.
They will also discuss « the role of parliaments in youth empowerment », « youth empowerment through current legal and continental commitments made by member states to address youth empowerment » and « the role of human rights and the primacy of law in youth empowerment. »
