Rabat, 26/03/2024 (MAP) – The Atlantic Initiative, launched by His Majesty King Mohammed VI to facilitate access for Sahel States to the Atlantic Ocean, stands as a distinctive framework aimed at fostering multidimensional African cooperation, ultimately paving the way for the emergence of a new, prosperous and stable Africa, experts and intellectuals said during a conference held on Tuesday in Rabat.

During this conference, organized by the African Forum for Development and Geographic and Strategic Research and the Ibn Battuta Centre for Scientific and Strategic Studies and Research, in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Rabat, experts underlined that the Royal Atlantic Initiative serves as an optimal mechanism to consolidate the efforts of African nations and presents unprecedented prospects for collaboration across various sectors, stressing its role in harmonizing the continent’s developmental endeavors and ensuring its prosperity, stability and security.

They also noted that Africa’s adjacency to seas and oceans – including the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean – gives it a strategic advantage, allowing oversight of crucial straits and international trade routes like the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal.

The significance of this initiative lies in its capacity to invest in the continent’s strategic capabilities through a participatory approach, facilitating Sahel countries’ access to Morocco’s Atlantic coastline.

Amidst substantial and decisive transformations across the African continent, spanning geographical, economic, political, social, security, environmental and cultural dimensions, the experts noted that the region faces deep and structural challenges, compounded by climate change and food crises. Therefore, the Royal Atlantic Initiative assumes paramount importance due to its capability to address these multifaceted challenges and variables comprehensively.

The experts further highlighted how the global geostrategic shifts over the past two decades have brought the African continent into the spotlight of major powers’ concerns, especially in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, energy, food, and climate crises, alongside escalating conflicts over resources, minerals and strategic positions.

Within this context, they underscored that African nations are now tasked with seizing the opportunities preceding the emergence of the new world order to foster co-development and bolster African blocs and South-South economic cooperation on mutually beneficial grounds. Additionally, they emphasized the necessity for these countries to embark on serious strategic and structural initiatives aimed at ensuring stability and prosperity for the continent’s people.

Given its strategic positioning, Morocco aspires to serve as a bridge between the two Atlantic shores to enhance collective resilience in confronting the challenges encountered by African nations, particularly those bordering the Atlantic. The speakers cautioned against the exacerbation of terrorism risks, separatist movements, terrorist armed groups, and cross-border smuggling.

Furthermore, they highlighted that Morocco’s relations with the Atlantic region offer an advantageous platform for leveraging significant cooperation opportunities and mitigating economic and security threats. Through comprehensive development initiatives, these relations can pave the way for shared prosperity among countries on both sides of the Atlantic.

The speakers also highlighted the religious commonalities and spiritual ties between Morocco and the countries of the Sahel, which add a human dimension to the cooperation between the Kingdom and the peoples of the region in various fields.

The participants also drew attention to the advances made in port reform in Morocco, at both legislative and institutional levels, which have had a positive impact on the performance of the Moroccan port sector and the quality of services. They also noted that these advances have enhanced the Kingdom’s investment attractiveness and competitiveness on a continental and international scale.

These reforms have accelerated the Kingdom’s economic transformation and strengthened port infrastructures, which are now among the most modern in the world, the speakers noted, adding that the Kingdom is working to share this experience of reform with its brothers on the African continent.

This conference, attended by presidents of research centres from Morocco and abroad, and representatives of several national and international institutions, aims to highlight the results desired by the Royal Atlantic Initiative, which aims to coordinate the efforts of African countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean within a unified institutional framework, to guarantee joint development and offer Sahel countries access to the Kingdom’s Atlantic coast.