As we know, Morocco has inherited a long history, deeply rooted in Africa. Over the past twenty years, the country has been committed to promoting its vision of South-South cooperation, which translates into a long series of bilateral agreements with its African peers in the security, economic, cultural and spiritual fields. Today, in order to materialize this new dynamic, several development projects have been implemented within the framework of the win-win partnership as promoted by the sovereign.
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[Série] Morocco: all-out diplomacy
For two decades, we have observed that the kingdom’s diplomatic tool has been deployed more in Morocco’s natural zone of influence, namely the South. An important change to note, Moroccan diplomacy has made a considerable leap since it has placed the economic aspect of the relationship at the heart of its action, alongside other traditional objectives of defending interests. Increasingly, it plays the role of facilitator for Moroccan investments in the continent, thus making Morocco the second African investor on the continental level and the first investor in West Africa.
Bet on economic interdependence
Nevertheless, these investments are still in this side trade potential with sub-Saharan Africa. Moroccan investors who have little or not at all integrated the international dimension into their growth strategy suffer from the fragmentation of the regional productive fabric. A growing number of our parliamentarians are taking this subject seriously and are ready to link Moroccan companies to economic diplomacy.
As for the African multilateral framework, a promising directive clearly marks Morocco’s ambition to consolidate its economic interdependence with the continent’s major economies. Thus, structuring for the entire West African basin, the gas pipeline project between Morocco and Nigeria is the perfect illustration of this. It will ensure very significant progress in the process of integrating the economies of the region such as that of the Zlecaf.
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Morocco and the IDB, hand in hand over the Sahara
This development of sustained South-South cooperation, which is a consensus among 54 countries, also requires a clear and lucid position on the part of African heads of government vis-à-vis the Moroccan Sahara. The sovereign’s message during his last speech to the nation was unvarnished: “the Sahara is the prism through which Morocco considers its international environment, and the measure of the sincerity of the friendships and the effectiveness of the partnerships that the kingdom establishes . And here too, parliamentary diplomacy can make this plea, and at all levels. But if heads of state express their desire for unity and the development of South-South cooperation in their speeches, what prevents them from translating their words into deeds?
When we hear certain African leaders talk about unity and the necessary economic integration in a world that believes only in force, and in the face of political and economic blocs that have no strong historical, ideological or linguistic ties between them , but which have succeeded in erasing all their differences – the European Union is moreover in this sense a living model – we expect all-out political collaboration, which can take the form of parliamentary collaboration between the different countries, removes the horizon from a strong union, and confines it to incantation.
The latest imbroglio between Morocco and Tunisia reveals in this sense a misunderstanding and a lack of consistency at all levels of a diplomatic relationship. Who would have thought that the latest Ticad would reveal an unprecedented crisis between two countries that are nevertheless very close? Which leaves me personally skeptical about the idea of the Greater Arab Maghreb. Should we rather believe in the Maghreb utopia? The one that Hamza Hraoui spoke about here and from which I quote a quote that is still relevant: “The regimes of the Maghreb are less victims of the force of their external enemies than of their internal demons. »
Maintaining the momentum of the relationship
To serve the interests of the kingdom on the African continent, I continue to believe that parliamentary diplomacy can carry the strategic objectives of the country to support the foreign policy of the kingdom, that it concerns the territorial integrity of the kingdom and the multidimensional cooperation with the ‘Africa. As we all know, state-to-state relations certainly need impetus from above, but maintaining the momentum of the relationship and even exploring other levers of cooperation is also the role of other actors, whether whether they are state or not. Among the latter, I will cite here the Parliament with its two chambers.
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Banks: after Morocco, Algeria on the sub-Saharan track
Our parliamentary institution only asks to be involved in questions concerning the country’s foreign policy, conducted under the supervision of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Through its diplomatic legislative action, Parliament constitutes an important link in the incorporation of international conventions into Moroccan law. Parliamentary diplomacy is obviously not a monolith, but it certainly helps in the resolution of diplomatic conflicts by seeking the support of stakeholders to find alternative paths of discussion.
Promote exchanges of parliamentarians
Influential parliamentary diplomacy implies a proactive attitude to defend the strategic interests of the kingdom and to reconcile points of view. But also reactive, which adapts quickly to the regional and international geopolitical agenda.
In this context, exchanges of parliamentary delegations are a powerful tool for laying the foundations of our foreign policy desired by our sovereign and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by parliamentarians. This involves visiting delegations to the parliaments of other countries and hosting counterparts, thus enabling Moroccan parliamentarians to master complex issues concerning of them country.
Morocco: our parliamentary diplomacy in search of action – Jeune Afrique