Morocco Gathers Support for South-South Climate Cooperation in New York
In honoring the pledges made during the COP22 Climate Summit in Marrakech, Morocco hosted on the sidelines of the 72nd UN General Assembly in New York a meeting dedicated to promote south-south climate cooperation.
The meeting was jointly organized with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and was attended by several public and non-state actors, regional and international organizations and representatives of the private sector and of developing countries.
Speaking on this occasion, Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, commended Morocco for spearheading south-south cooperation to address climate change.
She stressed the need for dialogue and multilateralism to achieve the transformation of Africa and to reach the goals set in the Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union 2063 Agenda.
For his part, Ambassador Amena Yauvoli, COP23 special representative for the Pacific region, underscored the relevance of this Moroccan initiative and its great potential to promote cooperation between countries to fight the effects of climate change.
For him, South-South cooperation as advocated by Morocco “can turn these challenges into opportunities”.
“Climate challenges are constantly increasing, and no country can confront them alone,” he noted, stressing that successful experiences such as the Moroccan one are very useful for other countries in the south.
In the same vein, UNFCCC spokesperson Nick Nuttall welcomed Morocco’s initiative, noting that the Moroccan presidency of COP22 contributed to the emergence of a South-South cooperation action in this area.
Nuttall highlighted the importance of strengthening cooperation in order to fight the impact of this phenomenon.
Speaking on the same occasion, COP22 President Salaheddine Mezouar said that this meeting is reflective of the importance that the Kingdom attaches to South-South cooperation.
“For Morocco, this dimension of South-South partnership is a vision of strategic importance aimed at providing concrete answers to real problems,” he told reporters.
Morocco’s Secretary of State for Sustainable Development, Nezha El Ouafi, for her part, stressed that the Kingdom remains convinced that “multilateralism is the right choice to put into place our actions and move forward.”
This initiative can serve as a Moroccan-African platform to counter the effects of climate change, she noted.
During the same meeting, Director General of the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation (AMCI), ambassador Mohamed Methqal underlined the personal commitment of King Mohammed VI to South-South cooperation, recalling in this regard the organization last year in Marrakech of the Africa Action Summit in the margins of COP22.
Methqal also pointed out that the AMCI’s actions remain mainly oriented towards the African continent, with almost 80 pc of its initiatives related to African countries.
